Chem. [f. ALL(ANTOIN) + OXA(LIC) + -AN, ‘so named by Liebig and Wöhler in 1838, because it contains the elements of allantoin and oxalic acid.’ H. E. Roscoe.] An organic compound C4H2N2O4, crystallizing in large efflorescent rectangular prisms; one of the oxidation products of uric acid, being a monureide of mesoxalic acid constituted by the radical mesoxalyl CO.2(CO)″ and the urea-residue CO.(2NH)″.
1853. Thudichum, Urine, 81. The reaction consists in the formation of alloxan, urea, and nitrous acid.
1873. Williamson, Chem., § 317. Alloxan is formed by the action of various oxidizing agents.
