title: Orthoacetic acid
text: # Orthoacetic acid
  
  Orthoacetic acid or ethane-1,1,1-triol is an hypothetical organic compound with formula C $_2H$ $_6O$ $_3$ or $H_3C-C(OH)_3.$ It would be an ortho acid with the ethane backbone.
  
  Orthoacetic acid is believed to be impossible to isolate, since it would readily decompose into acetic acid and water. It may have a fleeting existence in aqueous solutions of acetic acid.
  
  ## Orthoacetate anions
  
  The three hydroxyls of $CH_3C(OH)_3$ could be deprotonated, leading successively to $CH_3C(OH)_2(O^–)$ (dihydrogenorthoacetate), $CH_3C(OH)(O^–)_2$ (hydrogenorthoacetate), and finally $CH_3C(O^–)_3$ (orthoacetate).
  
  ## Orthoacetate esters
  
  There are many stable organic compounds with the trivalent moiety $H_3CC(OR)_3,$ which are formally esters of orthoacetic acid and called orthoacetates. They include trimethyl orthoacetate and triethyl orthoacetate, which are commercially available.
  
  