Metal peroxide

[1] The peroxide ion is composed of two oxygen atoms that are linked by a single bond.

This translates into the smaller force constant of the bond (2.8 N/cm vs. 11.4 N/cm for 3O2) and the lower frequency of the molecular vibration (770 cm−1 vs. 1555 cm−1 for 3O2).

[3] The lighter alkaline earth metals calcium, magnesium and strontium also form peroxides, which are used commercially as oxygen sources or oxidizers.

[1] Upon exposure to air, alkali metal peroxides absorb CO2 to give peroxycarbonates.

Within the area of transition metal dioxygen complexes, O2−2 functions as a bidentate ligand.

[7][8] The past use of perborates as additives to detergents and cleaning products[9] has been largely replaced by percarbonates.

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.

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.

[10] Alexander von Humboldt synthesized barium peroxide in 1799 as a byproduct of his attempts to decompose air.

Nineteen years later Louis Jacques Thénard recognized that this compound could be used for the preparation of hydrogen peroxide.

[11] Thénard and Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac synthesized sodium peroxide in 1811.