a. Chem. [f. TRI- 5 + MELLITIC.] In trimellitic acid, a colorless compound, C6H3(COOH)3, unsymmetrical benzene-tricarboxylic acid, obtained by the oxidation of colophony by means of nitric acid. So named in 1870, by Baeyer, who prepared it from mellitic acid.
1872. Watts, Dict. Chem., VI. 813. Trimellitic Acid … is moderately soluble in water…, and crystallises … by slow evaporation in nodular groups of indistinct crystals.
