Malonic Acid
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Malonic acid is a chemical compound with the formula HOOC-CH2-COOH, highly soluble in water and crystallizing easily. It has significant importance in synthetic organic chemistry, particularly in the synthesis of barbiturate hypnotics.
Encyclopedia article (1928–1936)
Malonic acid, HOOC-CH2-COOH, is highly soluble in water, easily crystallizes, and melts at 133°. Malonic acid is obtained by heating chloroacetic acid with KCN and then saponifying the resulting ester of cyanoacetic acid. Malonic acid is found in sugar beets. Malonic acid has great importance in synthetic organic chemistry, where it is mainly used in the form of its ethyl ester (so-called malonic ester). In malonic acid esters, the hydrogen atoms in the CH2 group can be replaced by sodium atoms. In the metal derivatives of malonic acid, sodium atoms can be replaced by various groups, and in this way various derivatives of malonic acid can be obtained. Both malonic acid itself and substituted malonic acids, when melted, lose CO2, which makes it possible to easily obtain various derivatives of acetic acid: HOOC-CRR'-COOH = CHRR'-COOH+CO2. In pharmaceutical chemistry, malonic acid is used for the synthesis of hypnotic substances of the barbituric acid group (see).
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“Malonic Acid.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/malonic-acid/