nitronate

thumb|right|150px|General chemical structure of a nitronate

A nitronate (IUPAC: azinate) in organic chemistry is an anion with the general structure {{chem2|R^{1}R^{2}C\dN+(\sO−)2|auto=1}}, containing the functional group, where R can be hydrogen, halogen, organyl group or other groups. It is the anion of nitronic acid {{chem2|R^{1}R^{2}C\dN+(\sO−)\sOH}} (sometimes also called an aci-nitro compound, or an azinic acid), a tautomeric form of a nitro compound. Just as aldehydes and ketones can exist in equilibrium with their enol tautomer, nitro compounds exist in equilibrium with their nitronate tautomer under basic conditions. In practice they are formed by the deprotonation of the α-carbon, the pKa of which is typically around 17. 400px