Cyanuric acid
Cyanuric acid or 1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-triol is a chemical compound with the formula (CNOH)3. Like many industrially useful chemicals, this triazine has many synonyms. This white, odorless solid finds use as a precursor or a component of bleaches, disinfectants, and herbicides. In 1997, worldwide production was 160 million kilograms.
Properties and synthesis
Properties
Cyanuric acid is the cyclic trimer of the elusive species cyanic acid, HOCN. The two structures shown in the infobox readily interconvert; that is, they are tautomers. However, mixture with melamine forms melamine cyanurate, which locks cyanuric acid in the tri-keto tautomer and makes melamine cyanurate insoluble in water. The triol tautomer, which may have aromatic character, predominates in solution. The hydroxyl (-OH) groups assume phenolic character. Deprotonation with base affords a series of cyanurate salts:
Synthesis
Cyanuric acid (CYA) was first synthesized by Friedrich Wöhler in 1829 by the thermal decomposition of urea and uric acid. The current industrial route to CYA entails the thermal decomposition of urea, with release of ammonia. The conversion commences at approximately 175 °C:
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