Orthocarbonic acid
Orthocarbonic acid (methanetetrol) is the name given to a hypothetical compound with the chemical formula HCO or C(OH). Its molecular structure consists of a single carbon atom bonded to four hydroxy groups. It would be therefore a fourfold alcohol. In theory it could lose four protons to give the hypothetical oxocarbon anion (orthocarbonate), and is therefore considered an oxoacid of carbon. Orthocarbonic acid is highly unstable. Calculations show that it decomposes spontaneously into carbonic acid and HO: Orthocarbonic acid is one of the group of carboxylic "ortho acids" that have the general structure of RC(OH).The term "ortho acid