VERIFICATION OF NON-CATALYTIC HYDROGEN PEROXIDE DISPROPORTIONATION MECHANISM BY THERMODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF ONE-ELECTRON REDOX REACTIONS

There is two-electron transfer during the process of hydrogen peroxide decomposition into water and oxygen. The detailed mechanism of non-catalytic hydrogen peroxide disproportionation is not verified until now. We assumed that any poly-electron redox process is a complex and consists of one-electron redox reactions. We have formulated equations of possible one-electron transfers during hydrogen peroxide disproportionation. Based on known laws and equations of thermochemistry we calculated standard thermodynamic functions for a total reaction and each one-elect-ron redox reaction using reference values of standard thermodynamic functions of reagents and products of reactions. Results show that the total reaction leads to significant decrease in Gibbs free energy -246.0 kJ/mol in gas phase but there is increase +39.9 kJ/mol in Gibbs free energy during the first proposed step. It is substantiation for known dependence of hydrogen peroxide dismutation kinetics at thermal, photochemical or catalytic activation. The first proposed step of non-catalytic process is one-electron plus one-proton transfer in thermally or photochemically activated dimeric hydrogen peroxide associate (H2O2)2 with simultaneous generation of hydroperoxyl HO2• and hydroxyl HO• free radicals and water molecule. There is thermodynamic argumentation for radical chain mechanism of hydrogen peroxide disproportionation after the activation. We made the graphic illustration of thermodynamically supported scheme of non-catalytic hydrogen peroxide decomposition. There is a cyclic alternation of two radical-molecular interactions during the hydrogen peroxide chain decomposition. The hydroxyl radical generates the hydroperoxyl radi-cal from a hydrogen peroxide molecule and then the hydroperoxyl radical interacts with a next hydrogen peroxide molecule followed by the hydroxyl radical generation. Interactions between the homonymic or heteronymic free radicals are the reactions of chain breaking.Forcitation:Chumakov A.A., Batalova V.N., Slizhov Yu.G., Minakova T.S. Verification of non-catalytic hydrogen peroxide disproportionation mechanism by thermodynamic analysis of one-electron redox reactions. Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved. Khim. Khim. Tekhnol. 2017. V. 60. N 6. P. 40-44.