SHEET /m/citric-acid · PubChem CID 311 · CAS 77-92-9 · REV 2026.07
Citric acid
from sourceC6H8O7 · 192.12 g/mol
Aciletten · Chemfill · Citretten · Citro
What is Citric acid?
The mouth-watering sourness of lemons, limes, and oranges. Citric acid (C6H8O7, 192 g/mol) is an organic acid found in everyday food and flavor. Found in fruit, soft drinks, tonic water, and citrus. from source
Fig. 1 · 2D structure RDKit
C(C(=O)O)C(CC(=O)O)(C(=O)O)OWhere you'll find it
Curated by MoleculeFinder from source
The dose makes the poison inferred
A reported rat oral LD50 for Citric acid is 3,000 mg/kg, the dose lethal to half the animals tested. Scaled by body mass alone:
“The dose makes the poison” is a cross-species estimate shown as neutral science, not a threshold anyone should act on. Real toxicity depends on the person, not body mass alone.
Toxicity & hazards
Toxicity · LD50
3,000 mg/kg · very low toxicity · LD50 rat oral from source
The dose lens above scales this to a body weight.
3 more reported values
- 5,040 mg/kgLD50 · oral · mouse
- 6,730 mg/kgLD50 · oral · rat
- 42 mg/kgLD50 · iv · mouse
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