Carbon trioxide

"CO3" redirects here. For the polyatomic ion CO2−
3, see Carbonate. For the postal district, see CO postcode area.

The Cs, D3h, and C2v isomers of carbon trioxide.

Carbon trioxide (CO₃) is an unstable oxide of carbon (an oxocarbon). Three possible isomers of carbon trioxide, denoted C_s, D_3h, and C_2v, have been most studied by theoretical methods, and the C_2v state has been shown to be the ground state of the molecule.^[1][2]

Carbon trioxide should not be confused with the stable carbonate ion (CO₃²⁻).

Carbon trioxide can be produced, for example, in the drift zone of a negative corona discharge by reactions between carbon dioxide (CO₂) and the atomic oxygen (O) created from molecular oxygen by free electrons in the plasma.^[3]

Another reported method is photolysis of ozone O₃ dissolved in liquid CO₂, or in CO₂/SF₆ mixtures at -45°C, irradiated with light of 2537 Å. The formation of CO₃ is inferred but it appears to decay spontaneously by the route 2CO₃ → 2CO₂ + O₂ with a lifetime much shorter than 1 minute.^[4]

Carbon trioxide can be made by blowing ozone at dry ice (solid CO₂), and it has also been detected in reactions between carbon monoxide (CO) and molecular oxygen (O₂).

References

1. ^ Tim Kowalczyk, Electronic structure and spectroscopy of carbon trioxide
2. ^ Kowalczyk, T; Krylov, AI (Aug 2007). "Electronic structure of carbon trioxide and vibronic interactions involving Jahn-Teller states". J. Phys. Chem. A 111 (33): 8271–8276. doi:10.1021/jp073627d. ISSN 1089-5639. PMID 17661455. 
3. ^ Sabin, J. R; Kim, H (1971). "A theoretical study of the structure and properties of carbon trioxide". Chemical Physics Letters 11 (5,): 593–597. Bibcode 1971CPL....11..593S. doi:10.1016/0009-2614(71)87010-0. 
4. ^ DeMore W. B., Jacobsen C. W. (1969). "Formation of carbon trioxide in the photolysis of ozone in liquid carbon dioxide". Journal of Physical Chemistry 73 (9): 2935–2938. doi:10.1021/j100843a026. 

Further reading

• Electronic structure and spectroscopy of carbon trioxide
• Sobek V., Skalný J. D. (1993). "A simple model of processes in the drift region of negative corona discharge in a mixture of air with halocarbons". Czechoslovak Journal of Physics 43 (8): 807. doi:10.1007/BF01589802. http://springerlink.com/content/n8qq2t7q21711481/. 
• Pople J. A. , Seeger U., Seeger R., Schleyer P. v. R. (2004). "The structure of carbonate". Journal of Computational Chemistry 1 (2): 199–203. doi:10.1002/jcc.540010215. 
• Moll N. G., Clutter D. R., Thompson W. E. (1966). "Carbonate: Its Production, Infrared Spectrum, and Structure Studied in a Matrix of Solid CO₂". The Journal of Chemical Physics 45 (12): 4469–4481. doi:10.1063/1.1727526. 
• Gimarc B. M., Chou T. S. (1968). "Geometry and Electronic Structure of Carbon Trioxide". The Journal of Chemical Physics 49 (9): 4043–4047. doi:10.1063/1.1670715. 
• DeMore W. B., Dede C. (1970). "Pressure dependence of carbon trioxide formation in the gas-phase reaction of O(1D) with carbon dioxide". Journal of Physical Chemistry 74 (13): 2621–2625. doi:10.1021/j100707a006. 
• Francisco J. S., Williams I. H. (1985). "A theoretical study of the force field for carbon trioxide". Chemical Physics 95 (3): 373. doi:10.1016/0301-0104(85)80160-9.