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Citric acid is an organic compound with the skeletal formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in the metabolism of all aerobic organisms.
More than two million tons of citric acid are manufactured every year. It is used widely as acidifier, flavoring, preservative, and chelating agent.
A citrate is a derivative of citric acid; that is, the salts, esters, and the polyatomic anion found in solutions and salts of citric acid. An example of the former, a salt is trisodium citrate; an ester is triethyl citrate. When citrate trianion is part of a salt, the formula of the citrate trianion is written as C
6H
5O3−
7 or C
3H
5O(COO)3−
3.