text: Rhodizonic acid is a chemical compound with formula  or . It can be seen as a twofold enol and fourfold ketone of cyclohexene, more precisely 5,6-dihydroxycyclohex-5-ene-1,2,3,4-tetrone. 
  Rhodizonic acid is usually obtained in the form of a dihydrate . The latter is actually 2,3,5,5,6,6-hexahydroxycyclohex-2-ene-1,4-dione, where two of the original ketone groups are replaced by two pairs of geminal diols. The orange to deep-red and highly hygroscopic anhydrous acid can be obtained by low-pressure sublimation of the dihydrate.
  Like many other enols, rhodizonic acid can lose the hydrogen cations  from the hydroxyls (pK = , pK =  at 25 °C), yielding the hydrogen rhodizonate anion  and the rhodizonate anion . The latter is aromatic and symmetric, as the double bond and the negative charges are delocalized and evenly distributed over the six CO units. Rhodizonates tend to have various shades of red, from yellowish to purplish.
  Rhodizonic acid has been used in chemical assays for barium, lead, and other metals. In particular, the sodium rhodizonate test can be used to detect gunshot residue (which contains lead) in a subject's hands, and to distinguish arrow wounds from gunshot wounds for hunting regulation enforcement.