Arsenic trioxide Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Arsenic trioxide is the arsenic(III) oxide conventionally written . The formula expresses its elemental ratio; molecular units in some forms are .
This distinction separates an empirical formula from the structure of the actual species. Reactions involving arsenic trioxide depend on pH, dissolved speciation, and oxidation state, rather than on the oxide formula alone.
Empirical formula mass 2026-10-31
The sum of relative atomic masses for the simplest integer composition represented by an empirical formula.
Label the enamine carbon bonded to nitrogen C1 and its alkene partner C2; C6 is the other carbon next to C1. B is the C-alkylated iminium ion bromide. Its new substituent at C2 is , while C1 is double-bonded to the pyrrolidine nitrogen, which bears positive charge. bromide is the counterion, accounting for Br in the empirical formula without requiring a retained C–Br bond.
The C2 end of the enamine attacks the bromomethyl carbon by displacement. Simultaneously, donation of the nitrogen lone pair creates the C1=N bond. This is ordinary enamine C-alkylation, not N-alkylation.
proton transfer removes an alpha proton at C6, converting the iminium ion into the enamine regioisomer C1=C6. That enamine attacks the terminal of the tethered acrylate in an intramolecular Michael addition. nitrogen donation restores the iminium ion, and protonation of the ester enolate completes the sequence.
The new bridge is . Together with the original ring and its C1 bridge this produces the bicyclononane iminium ion skeleton in C. It retains the pyrrolidine group and the ester; hydrolysis to a ketone is not part of the displayed reaction. The second panel of the original annulation figure shows the chemical atom connectivity and distinguishes ionic bromide in B from a covalent bromine substituent.
The molecular formula is , interpreting the vapour density as relative to air. The organic elemental analysis first determines a simpler empirical formula; the vapor-density molar mass measurement then fixes its multiple.
Take 100 mass units of the chemical substance and divide each elemental contribution by its rounded relative atomic mass:
The empirical formula is therefore , with empirical formula mass approximately 44. Its calculated mass percentages are 54.55% carbon, 9.09% hydrogen and 36.36% oxygen. The small discrepancies from the given organic elemental analysis are consistent with rounded experimental data; they should not be converted into large, meaningless integer subscripts.
For equal volumes of ideal gases at equal temperature and pressure, the density ratio equals the molar mass ratio. On the air convention,
Doubling gives ; its rounded relative molecular mass of 88 predicts an air-relative vapor density of approximately , close to 3.05. If the stated vapor density were instead relative to hydrogen, it would imply a relative molecular mass near 6.1, smaller than the empirical formula mass and incompatible with the analysis. That interpretation cannot describe a pure, undecomposed molecular vapor with the stated composition.
Under the older equivalent weight convention , , , the same composition and formula weight could be written . This is a change of notation, not eight modern carbon chemical atoms in the molecule. The result specifies composition and molar mass; it does not distinguish among structural isomers, such as ethyl acetate and butyric acid.