Oxocarbon Anion

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In chemistry, an oxocarbon anion is a negative ion consisting solely of carbon and oxygen atoms, and therefore having the general formula CxOyn for some integers x, y, and n. The most common oxocarbon anions are carbonate, CO32, and oxalate, C2O42 . There is however a large number of stable anions in this class, including several ones that have research or industrial use. There are also many unstable anions, like CO4, that have a fleeting existence during some chemical reactions; and many hypothetical species, like CO44, that have been the subject of theoretical studies but have yet to be observed.