Mesoionic compounds definition

The term mesoionic was suggested originally to describe compounds of the sydnone (129) or sydnone imine (130) type (49JCS307, 50JCS1542). Since then this term has been applied somewhat indiscriminately to a variety of heterocyclic molecules which can be represented formally as zwitterions. The original, rather restrictive definition put forward by Baker and Ollis (55CI(L)910) was later made even more so by Ollis and Ramsden (76AHC(19)1), and it is this most recent definition which now appears to be the most useful. 

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