Tetronic Acids and Other Lactones 

 and Lactams 



This chapter includes derivatives of tetronic acid as well as 

 some related lactones. Ascorbic acid is included in this section 

 because it is structurally similar to the tetronic acids, although 

 it might equally well have been placed with the sugar acids. 



The tetronic acids appear to be condensation products of two 

 simple molecules. Ehrensvard and his collaborators have ob- 

 tained experimental confirmation of this in two cases.' By 

 labeled acetate studies on carlosic and carolic acids, they have 

 shown the B portions of the molecules as indicated below to be 



HO 



HO A| B C— CH2— CH2— CHa 



O HOOC— CHo ' O 



Tetronic Acid Carlosic Acid 



B C— CH2— CH2— CH2— OH 



O 

 Carolic Acid 



^ Gosta Ehrensvard, "Chemical Society Symposia," Special Publica- 

 tion No. 12, The Chemical Society, London, 1958, p. 14. 



