phosphate, any of numerous chemical compounds related to phosphoric acid (H3PO4). One group of these derivatives is composed of salts containing the phosphate ion (PO43−), the hydrogen phosphate ion (HPO42−), or the dihydrogen phosphate ion (H2PO4−), and positively charged ions such as those of sodium or calcium; a second group is composed of esters, in which the hydrogen atoms of phosphoric acid have been replaced by organic combining groups such as ethyl (C2H5) or phenyl (C6H5).