Chemical Properties
The enol forms of oxaloacetic acid are particularly stable, so much so that the two isomers have different melting points (152 °C for the cis isoform and 184 °C for the trans isoform). The enol proton has a pKa value of 13.02.
Oxaloacetate is unstable in solution, decomposing to pyruvate by decarboxylation over a period of hours (room temperature) or days (0 °C). Refrigerated storage of the solid is therefore recommended.
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