Oxalic acid Oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic compound with the formula CHO. It is a colorless crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its condensed formula is HOOCCOOH, reflecting its classification as the simplest dicarboxylic acid. Its acid strength is much greater than that of acetic acid. Oxalic acid is a reducing agent and its conjugate base, known as oxalate (), is a chelating agent for metal cations. Typically, oxalic acid occurs as the dihydrate with the formula CHO·2HO. It occurs naturally in many foods, but excessive ingestion of oxalic acid or prolonged skin contact can be dangerous.
Organic compound substance in Martian soil. Terrestrially, it, and its anhydride, mellitic anhydride, are associated with the mineral mellite (AlC(COO)·16HO). A slightly broader definition of organic compound includes all compounds bearing C-H or C-C bonds. This would still exclude urea. Moreover, this definition still leads to somewhat arbitrary divisions in sets of carbon-halogen compounds. For example, CF and CCl would be considered by this rule to be "inorganic", whereas CFH and CHCl would be organic, though these compounds share many physical and chemical properties. Organic compounds may be classified in a variety of ways. One major distinction is between natural and synthetic