Peroxycarbonate

In chemistry, peroxycarbonate (sometimes peroxocarbonate) is a divalent anion with formula CO2−4. It is an oxocarbon anion that consists solely of carbon and oxygen. It would be the anion of a hypothetical peroxocarbonic acid HO–CO–O–OH or the real hydroperoxyformic acid, HO-O-CO-OH (a.k.a. percarbonic acid, carbonoperoxoic acid). In chemistry, peroxycarbonate (sometimes peroxocarbonate) is a divalent anion with formula CO2−4. It is an oxocarbon anion that consists solely of carbon and oxygen. It would be the anion of a hypothetical peroxocarbonic acid HO–CO–O–OH or the real hydroperoxyformic acid, HO-O-CO-OH (a.k.a. percarbonic acid, carbonoperoxoic acid). The peroxycarbonate anion is formed, together with peroxydicarbonate C2O2−6, at the negative electrode during electrolysis of molten lithium carbonate. Lithium peroxycarbonate can be produced also by combining carbon dioxide CO2 with lithium hydroxide in concentrated hydrogen peroxide H2O2 at −10 °C. The peroxycarbonate anion has been proposed as an intermediate to explain the catalytic effect of CO2 on the oxidation of organic compounds by O2. The potassium and rubidium salts of the monovalent hydrogenperoxocarbonate anion H–O–O–CO−2 have also been obtained.