1,3-Dioxetane
1,3-Dioxetane is a heterocyclic organic compound with formula C2O2H4, whose backbone is a four-member ring of alternating oxygen and carbon atoms. It can be viewed as a dimer of formaldehyde.
Derivatives of 1,3-dioxetane are rarely encountered as intermediates in the literature. Usually, they are prepared via Woodward–Hoffmann rules#%5B2+2%5D_Cycloadditions| cycloadditions of two carbonyl compounds. Molecular orbital theory calculations suggest that they should be more stable than the their 1,2-isomers, which are more intensively studied.
