I.

INTRODUCTION

A peroxide is a compound containing an oxygenoxygen single bond or the

peroxide anion. The group is called the peroxide group or peroxo group. In contrast tooxide ions,
the oxygen atoms in the peroxide ion have an oxidation state of 1.
The simplest stable peroxide is hydrogen peroxide. Peroxide compounds can be roughly
classified into organic and inorganic. Whereas the inorganic peroxides have an ionic, salt-like
character, the organic peroxides are dominated by the covalent bonds. The oxygenoxygen chemical bond of peroxide is unstable and easily split into reactive radicals. For this
reason, peroxides are found in nature only in small quantities, in water, atmosphere, plants, and
animals. Peroxide ion formation has recently been highlighted as one of the main mechanisms by
which oxides accommodate excess oxygen in ionic crystals and may have a large impact on a
range of industrial applications including solid oxide fuel cells.
Several organic and inorganic peroxides are useful as bleaching agents, as initiators
of polymerization reactions, and in the preparation ofhydrogen peroxide and other oxygen
compounds. The negatively charged peroxide ion (O22-) is present in inorganic compounds that
may be regarded as salts of the very weakacid hydrogen peroxide; examples are sodium
peroxide (Na2O2), a bleaching agent, andbarium peroxide (BaO2), formerly used as a source
of hydrogen peroxide.
Peroxides have a bleaching effect on organic substances and therefore are added to
some detergents and hair colorants. Other large-scale applications include medicine andchemical
industry, where peroxides are used in various synthesis reactions or occur as intermediate
products. With an annual production of over 2 million tonnes, hydrogen peroxide is the most
economically important peroxide. Many peroxides are unstable and hazardous substances; they
cannot be stored and therefore are synthesized in situ and used immediately.
Many inorganic peroxides are used for bleaching textiles and paper and as a bleaching
additive to detergents and cleaning products. The increasing environmental concerns resulted in
the preference of peroxides over chlorine-based compounds and a sharp increase in the peroxide
production. The past use of perborates as additives to detergents and cleaning products has been
largely replaced bypercarbonates in order to decrease the emission of boron to the environment.
Sodium percarbonate is used in such products as OxiClean and Tide laundry detergent. When
dissolved in water, it releases hydrogen peroxide and soda ash (sodium carbonate).
Some peroxide salts release oxygen upon reaction with carbon dioxide. This reaction is
used in generation of oxygen from exhaled carbon dioxide on submarines and spaceships.

Sodium or lithium peroxides are preferred in space applications because of their lower molar
mass and therefore higher oxygen yield per unit weight.
Inorganic peroxides are used as oxidizing agents for digestion of organic samples and in
the synthesis of organic peroxides. They react violently with reducing agents and with several
classes of organic compounds to generate organic peroxide and hydroperoxide products.4 Dry
Caros reagent (monopersulfuric acid K2O2 " con. H2SO4) reacts readily with carbonyl
compounds (in the synthesis of organic peroxides) and can react explosively with aldehydes and
alcohols.

II.

PRODUCTION OF INORGANIC PEROXY COMPOUNDS (OTHER THAN

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE)

Most alkali metal peroxides can be synthesized directly by oxygenation of the

elements. Lithium peroxide is form upon treating lithium hydroxide with hydrogen peroxide:
2 LiOH + H2O2 Li2O2 + 2 H2O

Historically, barium peroxide is prepared by oxygenation of barium oxide at elevated

temperature and pressure.
2 BaO + O2 2 BaO2

Barium peroxide was once used to produce pure oxygen from air. This process relies on
the temperature-dependent chemical balance between barium oxide and peroxide: the reaction of
barium oxide with air at 500 C results in barium peroxide, which upon heating to above 700 C
in oxygen decomposes back to barium oxide releasing pure oxygen.
III.

USES AND APPLICATIONS

A. Inorganic Peroxy Compounds

Many inorganic peroxides are used for bleaching textiles and paper and as a bleaching
additive to detergents and cleaning products. The increasing environmental concerns resulted in
the preference of peroxides over chlorine-based compounds and a sharp increase in the peroxide
production. The past use of perborates as additives to detergents and cleaning products has been
largely replaced bypercarbonates in order to decrease the emission of boron to the environment.
Sodium percarbonate is used in such products as OxiClean and Tide laundry detergent. When
dissolved in water, it releases hydrogen peroxide and soda ash (sodium carbonate).
The use of peroxide compounds in detergents is often reflected in their trade names; for
example, Persil is a combination of the words perborate and silicate.

B. Hydrogen Peroxide
Industrial
About 60% of the world's production of hydrogen peroxide is used for pulp- and
paper-bleaching. The second major industrial application is the manufacture of sodium
percarbonate and sodium perborate which are used as mild bleaches
in laundry detergents.
Hydrogen peroxide is used in certain waste-water treatment processes to remove
organic impurities. This is achieved by advanced oxidation processes, such as the Fenton
reaction, which use it to generate highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH). These are able
to destroy organic contaminates which are ordinarily difficult to remove, such
as aromatic or halogenated compounds. It can also oxidize sulphur based compounds
present in the waste; which is beneficial as it generally reduces their odour.
Medical
Disinfectant - Hydrogen peroxide is seen as an environmentally safe alternative
to chlorine-based bleaches, as it degrades to form oxygen and water. It can be used for the
disinfection of various surfaces. However studies have found it to be ineffective in certain
cases and hospitals and other medical institutions are now being advised to use chlorinebased bleaches for disinfection.
Cosmetics - Hydrogen Peroxide (between 1.9% and 12%) mixed with ammonium
hydroxide is used to bleach human hair. The chemical's bleaching property lends its name
to the phrase "peroxide blonde". Hydrogen peroxide is also used for tooth whitening and
can be mixed with baking soda and salt to make a home-made toothpaste.
Alternative - Practitioners of alternative medicine have advocated the use of
hydrogen peroxide for the treatment of various conditions, including emphysema,
influenza, AIDS and in particular cancer.
Both the effectiveness and safety of hydrogen peroxide therapy is disputed by
mainstream scientists. Hydrogen peroxide is produced by the immune system but in a
carefully controlled manner.
Propellant
High concentration H2O2 is referred to as High Test Peroxide (HTP). It can be
used either as a monopropellant (not mixed with fuel) or as the oxidizer component of
a bipropellant rocket. Use as a monopropellant takes advantage of the decomposition of
7098+% concentration hydrogen peroxide into steam and oxygen.
Explosives

Hydrogen peroxide has been used for creating organic peroxide based explosives,
such as acetone peroxide, for improvised explosive devices. These explosives tend to
degrade quickly and hence are not used as commercial or military explosives.
Other Uses
Hydrogen peroxide has various domestic uses, primarily as a cleaning and
disinfecting agent.
a.) Glow sticks
Hydrogen peroxide reacts with esters, such as cyalume and phenyl oxalate ester, to
produce chemiluminescence; this application is most commonly encountered in the form
of glow sticks.
b.) Horticulture
Some horticulturalists and users of hydroponics advocate the use of weak
hydrogen peroxide solution in watering solutions. Its spontaneous decomposition releases
oxygen that enhances a plant's root development and helps to treat root rot (cellular root
death due to lack of oxygen) and a variety of other pests.[60][61][62]
c.) Fish aeration
Laboratory tests conducted by fish culturists in recent years have demonstrated that
common household hydrogen peroxide can be used safely to provide oxygen for small
fish. The hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen by decomposition when it is exposed
to catalysts such as manganese dioxide.

IV.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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February 2015.
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Oxidizing_agent on 05 February 2015
Wikipedia (2015). Hydrogen Peroxide. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide on 05 February 2015
Wikipedia (2015). Lithium Peroxide. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Lithium_peroxide on 05 February 2015
Wikipedia (2015). Barium Peroxide. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Barium_peroxide on 05 February 2015