Triacetylmethane is the

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. T ...

with the formula . It is a colorless liquid that is soluble in organic solvents and in alkaline water. It readily forms an

enolate In organic chemistry, enolates are organic anions derived from the deprotonation of carbonyl () compounds. Rarely isolated, they are widely used as reagents in the synthesis of organic compounds. Bonding and structure Enolate anions are electr ...

. The enolate forms a variety of

metal complex A coordination complex consists of a central atom or ion, which is usually metallic and is called the ''coordination centre'', and a surrounding array of bound molecules or ions, that are in turn known as ''ligands'' or complexing agents. Many ...

es related to the metal acetylacetonates.{{cite journal , doi=10.1016/j.ica.2008.11.017, title=Coordinating Properties of the Anionic Ligand (MeCO)₂C(−)C(X)Me (X=O or NH) Toward Transition Metal(II) Centers , year=2009 , last1=Basato , first1=Marino , last2=Caneva , first2=Elisabetta , last3=Tubaro , first3=Cristina , last4=Veronese , first4=Augusto Cesare , journal=Inorganica Chimica Acta , volume=362 , issue=8 , pages=2551–2555

References

Triketones Chelating agents Tridentate ligands 3-Hydroxypropenals Enols