Trioxane Explained

Trioxane refers to any of three isomeric organic compounds composed of a six-membered ring with three carbon atoms and three oxygen atoms, having the molecular formula C₃H₆O₃.

Isomers

The three isomers are:

• 1,2,3-trioxane, a hypothetical compound that is the parent structure of the molozonides^[1]
• 1,2,4-trioxane, a hypothetical compound whose skeleton occurs as a structural element of some antimalarial agents (artemisinin and similar drugs)^[2]
• 1,3,5-trioxane, a trimer of formaldehyde used as fuel and in plastics manufacturing, and also as a solid fuel tablet when combined with hexamine

Notes and References

1. Lay, Tsan H. . Yamada, Takahiro . Tsai, Po-Lun . Bozzelli, Joseph W. . Thermodynamic Parameters and Group Additivity Ring Corrections for Three- to Six-Membered Oxygen Heterocyclic Hydrocarbons . Journal of Physical Chemistry A . 1997 . 101 . 13 . 2471–2477 . 10.1021/jp9629497. 1997JPCA..101.2471L .
2. Gary H. Posner, Mikhail Krasavin, Michael McCutchen, Poonsakdi Ploypradith, John P. Maxwell, Jeffrey S. Elias, Michael H. Parker . New antimalarial trioxanes and endoperoxides . Antimalarial Chemotherapy . 2001 . 255–263.