The Free Radical Mechanism in the Reactions of Hydrogen peroxide

This chapter describes and illustrates the reaction between hydrogen peroxide and ferrous ions, hydrogen peroxide and ferric ions, hydrogen peroxide and cupric ions, hydrogen peroxide at different metal surfaces, the photochemical decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by ionizing radiations, the reaction between ozone and hydrogen peroxide and the decomposition of ozone in aqueous solution, detection of free OH radicals, and some thermodynamics data concerning the radicals OH and HO2. Hydrogen peroxide decomposes under the influence of ionizing radiations (x-rays, and γ-rays), but hardly any quantitative data are available currently, except for the decomposition by X-rays in dilute aqueous solutions. A quantitative treatment of the decomposition of hydrogen-peroxide by ionizing radiations is still lacking. A preliminary investigation presents a number of interesting features.