Editing Pyruvic acid (section)

==Chemistry==
In 1834, [[Théophile-Jules Pelouze]] distilled [[tartaric acid]] and isolated [[glutaric acid]] and another unknown organic acid. [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]] characterized this other acid the following year and named pyruvic acid because it was distilled using heat.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first= Thomas |author-link=Thomas Thomson (chemist)|title=Chemistry of organic bodies, vegetables|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq45AAAAcAAJ |access-date=December 1, 2010|year= 1838|publisher=J. B. Baillière|location=London|page=65|chapter=Chapter II. Of fixed acids Section|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wq45AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA65 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berzelius |first1=J. |title=Ueber eine neue, durch Destillation von Wein-und Traubensäure erhaltene Säure |journal=Annalen der Pharmacie |date=1835 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=61–63 |doi=10.1002/jlac.18350130109|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1951856 }}</ref> The correct molecular structure was deduced by the 1870s.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1039/CA8783400019 |title=Pyruvic acid |journal=Journal of the Chemical Society, Abstracts |year=1878 |volume=34 |page=31 }}</ref> 

Pyruvic acid is a colorless liquid with a smell similar to that of [[acetic acid]] and is [[miscible]] with water.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pyruvic Acid|url=http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.1031.html |website=ChemSpider|publisher=Royal Society of Chemistry|access-date=21 April 2017}}</ref> In the laboratory, pyruvic acid may be prepared by heating a mixture of [[tartaric acid]] and [[potassium hydrogen sulfate]],<ref>{{OrgSynth|title=Pyruvic Acid|last1=Howard|first1=J. W.|last2=Fraser|first2=W. A.|prep=cv1p0475 |collvol=1| collvolpages=475 |volume=4|page=63|date=1925}}</ref> by the [[oxidation]] of [[propylene glycol]] by a strong oxidizer (e.g., [[potassium permanganate]] or [[bleach]]), or by the hydrolysis of [[acetyl cyanide]], formed by reaction of [[acetyl chloride]] with [[potassium cyanide]]:{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}
:CH<sub>3</sub>COCl + KCN → CH<sub>3</sub>COCN + KCl
:CH<sub>3</sub>COCN → CH<sub>3</sub>COCOOH