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EntityQ412074· pop 34· linked from 106 articles

Also known as ketoacid, keto acids, ketoacids

any chemical compound with keto and acidic groups

~2 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Pyruvic acid (top), acetoacetic acid and levulinic acid (bottom)

In organic chemistry, keto acids or ketoacids (also called oxo carboxylic acids) are organic compounds that contain a carboxylic acid group ( −COOH) and a ketone group (>C=O). In several cases, the keto group hydrates to the corresponding acetal in aqueous solution. The alpha-keto acids are especially important in biology as they are involved in the Krebs citric acid cycle and in glycolysis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “keto acid” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.