On the formation of hydrogen peroxide in water microdroplets

Recent reports on the formation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in water microdroplets produced via pneumatic spraying or capillary condensation have garnered significant attention. How covalent bonds in water could break under such mild conditions challenges our textbook understanding of physical chemistry and water. While there is no definitive answer, it has been speculated that ultrahigh electric fields at the air–water interface are responsible for this chemical transformation. Here, we report on our comprehensive experimental investigation of H₂O₂ formation in (i) water microdroplets sprayed over a range of liquid flow-rates, (shearing) air flow rates, and air composition, and (ii) water microdroplets condensed on hydrophobic substrates formed via hot water or humidifier under controlled air composition. Specifically, we assessed the contributions of the evaporative concentration and shock waves in sprays and the effects of trace O₃(g) on the H₂O₂ formation. Glovebox experiments revealed that the H₂O₂ formation in water microdroplets was most sensitive to the air–borne ozone (O₃) concentration. In the absence of O₃(g), we could not detect H₂O₂(aq) in sprays or condensates (detection limit ≥250 nM). In contrast, microdroplets exposed to atmospherically relevant O₃(g) concentration (10–100 ppb) formed 2–30 µM H₂O₂(aq), increasing with the gas–liquid surface area, mixing, and contact duration. Thus, the water surface area facilitates the O₃(g) mass transfer, which is followed by the chemical transformation of O₃(aq) into H₂O₂(aq). These findings should also help us understand the implications of this chemistry in natural and applied contexts.

A. Gallo Jr, H. Mishra et al., pinpoint the origins of the spontaneous H₂O₂ formation in water microdroplets formed via spraying or condensation, i.e., without the addition of electrical energy, catalyst, or co-solvent.     

Mechanism of reaction of hydrogen peroxide with horseradish peroxidase: identification of intermediates in the catalytic cycle.

The mechanism of the reaction of horseradish peroxidase isoenzyme C (HRPC) with hydrogen peroxide to form the reactive enzyme intermediate compound I has been studied using electronic absorbance, rapid-scan stopped-flow, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies at both acid and basic pH. The roles of the active site residues His42 and Arg38 in controlling heterolytic cleavage of the H(2)O(2) oxygen-oxygen bond have been probed with site-directed mutant enzymes His42 --> Leu (H42L), Arg38 --> Leu (R38L), and Arg38 --> Gly (R38G). The biphasic reaction kinetics of H42L with H(2)O(2) suggested the presence of an intermediate species and, at acid pH, a reversible second step, probably due to a neutral enzyme-H(2)O(2) complex and the ferric-peroxoanion-containing compound 0. EPR also indicated the formation of a protein radical situated more than approximately 10 A from the heme iron. The stoichiometry of the reaction of the H42L/H(2)O(2) reaction product and 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazolinesulfonic acid) (ABTS) was concentration dependent and fell from a value of 2 to 1 above 0.7 mM ABTS. These data can be explained if H(2)O(2) undergoes homolytic cleavage in H42L. The apparent rate of compound I formation by H42L, while low, was pH independent in contrast to wild-type HRPC where the rate falls at acid pH, indicating the involvement of an ionizable group with pK(a) approximately 4. In R38L and R38G, the apparent pK(a) was shifted to approximately 8 but there is no evidence that homolytic cleavage of H(2)O(2) occurs. These data suggest that His42 acts initially as a proton acceptor (base catalyst) and then as a donor (acid catalyst) at neutral pH and predict the observed slower rate and lower efficiency of heterolytic cleavage observed at acid pH. Arg38 is influential in lowering the pK(a) of His42 and additionally in aligning H(2)O(2) in the active site, but it does not play a direct role in proton transfer.     

Influence of the reaction conditions on the nature of the hydrogen peroxide oxidation products of furfural

UV irradiation causes no acceleration of the oxidation of furfural by hydrogen peroxide but maintains its occurrence at a uniform rate. Both with UV irradiation and without it, the oxidation of furfural by hydrogen peroxide takes place via the formation of intermediate peroxide compounds, with their subsequent conversion mainly into a mixture of -formylacrylic, maleic, and succinic acids. The ratio between the acids depends on the reaction conditions. The possibility has been shown of a directed oxidation to -formylacrylic acid.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the furan peroxide formation in the reaction of furfural with hydrogen peroxide in the presence or absence of sodium molybdate

The kinetics of the initial stage of the furfural reaction with hydrogen peroxide was studied in water in the presence of Na₂MoO₄ and in n-butanol without a catalyst. The mechanisms of furfural conversion in the Na₂MoO₄-H₂O₂ system and oxidation by hydrogen peroxide in the absence of sodium molybdate are discussed. Based on kinetic studies, the mechanism of furan peroxide formation is proposed. Proceedings of X International Conference on Chemistry of Organic and Organoelement Peroxides (Moscow, June 16–18, 1998).     

Effects of the reaction medium on the chemical nature of the surface of carbon catalysts during esterification, ester hydrolysis, and hydrogen peroxide decomposition

The state of the surfaces of hydrogenated and some cation-substituted forms of oxidized carbons before and after liquid and gas phase catalysis of esterification, ester hydrolysis, and decomposition of aqueous hydrogen peroxide have been studied by IR spectroscopy and chemical analysis. It was found that surface reactions between functional groups and the absorbed reagents (esterification) or products (hydrolysis) or the formation of new functional groups by redox decomposition of H₂O₂ can occur alongside normal processes on the carbons. It has been shown that the biggest change in the chemical nature of the surface (along with the initial reduction of catalytic activity up to the establishment of the stationary state) occurs with the hydrogenated form of the oxidized carbons in comparisons with the cation-substituted carbons. It was observed that when ionic forms of oxidized carbons were used there was practically no change in the chemical nature of the surface, and that the catalytic activity was greater which makes them promising catalysts for the processes studied. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 47–52, January–February, 1998.     

Recoverable solution reaction of HiPco carbon nanotubes with hydrogen peroxide

There is increasing interest in developing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs)-based optical biosensors for remote or in vitro and in vivo sensing because the near-IR optical properties of SWNTs are very sensitive to surrounding environmental changes. Many enzyme-catalyzed reactions yield hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) as a product. To our knowledge, there is no report on the interaction of H(2)O(2) with SWNTs from the optical sensing point of view. Here, we study the reaction of H(2)O(2) with an aqueous suspension of water-soluble (ws) HiPco SWNTs encased in the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The SWNTs are optically sensitive to hydrogen peroxide in pH 6.0 buffer solutions through suppression of the near-IR absorption band intensity. Interestingly, the suppressed spectral intensity of the nanotubes recovers by increasing the pH, by decomposing the H(2)O(2) into H(2)O and O(2) with the enzyme catalase, and by dialytically removing H(2)O(2). Preliminary studies on the mechanisms suggest that H(2)O(2) withdraws electrons from the SWNT valence band by charge transfer, which suppresses the nanotube spectral intensity. The findings suggest possible enzyme-assisted molecular recognition applications by selective optical detection of biological species whose enzyme-catalyzed products include hydrogen peroxide.     

Catalytic-kinetic absorptiostat technique with the indigo carmine—hydrogen peroxide reaction as the indicator reaction

The absorptiostat method previously described is used for the catalytic-kinetic determination of sulphur compounds (sulphide, thioacetamide. thiourea and thiosulphate) in the micromolar range by means of their catalytic action for the indigo carmine—hydrogen peroxide indicator reaction. The thiosulphate catalyst is activated by iron(III) or aluminium(III); aluminium(III) is deactivated by fluoride. On this basis, iron(III) is determined in the ng range, and aluminium(III) and fluoride in the μg range.     

Effect of the nature of carbonaceous supports on the bioelectrocatalytic activity of peroxidase, immobilized on the supports, in the hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction

Electrochemical properties of such disperse carbonaceous materials as acetylene black AD-100, finely divided colloidal graphite (FCG), ultradisperse diamond (UDD), and carbon nanotubes (CNT) are examined. Effect of the nature of disperse carbonaceous supports on bioelectrocatalytic activity of adsorbed peroxidase (POD) in the hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction is investigated. It is shown that the hydrogen peroxide reduction on the biocatalysts studied proceeds in conditions of direct bioelectrocatalysis independently of the disperse-support type. It is also demonstrated that the biocatalysts’ activity depends on the structure and properties of the surface of the supports defining the magnitude of the POD adsorption in an orientation favorable for direct bioelectrocatalysis. Maximum activity is inherent in the catalysts manufactured on the basis of materials with moderate hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties. By the magnitude of the activity in the hydrogen peroxide reduction reaction, depending on the nature of the carbonaceous support, the fabricated catalysts (carbonaceous material with adsorbed POD) form the series AD-100, CNT > FCG > UDD.     

Murexide reaction of caffeine with hydrogen peroxide and hydrochloric acid. II

In continuation of the study on the murexide reaction of caffeine with 3% hydrogen peroxide/hydrochloric acid and then with ammonia giving a purple coloration, we investigated the oxidation reaction of caffeine with 6% hydrogen peroxide/hydrochloric acid to isolate ten reaction products, 3-hydroxy-4,6-dimethyloxazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidine-2,5,7(3H,4H,6H)-trione 1 , 1,3-dimethylalloxan 2 , murexoin 3 , 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,6,8-trioxo-9-hydroxy-1H,3H,7H-xanthine 5 , 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,6,8-trioxo-1H,3H,7H-xanthine 6 , 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,6-dioxo-8-chloro-1H,3H,7H-xanthine 7, 5-(1,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexahydro-2,4,6-trioxopyrimidin-5-yl)-aminomethylene-1,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexahydro-2,4,6-trioxopyrimidine ammonium salt 9 , 1,3-dimethylpalabanic acid 10 , 1-methyl-2,4,5-trioxoimidazole 11 , 3-hydroxy-5,7-dimethyloxazolo[5,4-d]pyrimidine-2,4,6(3H,5H,7H)-trione 12 and 4,6,8-trimethyl-1,2,4-dioxazino[6,5-d]pyrimidine-3,5,7(4H,6H,8H)-trione 13 . The oxidation reaction using 6% hydrogen peroxide/hydrochloric acid was found to produce a similar purple coloration to that of the murexide reaction despite no subsequent addition of ammonia, indicating the liberation of ammonia by the oxidation of caffeine. Among the above compounds, the purple colored substance murexoin 3 and the yellow colored compound 9 were both ammonium salts, and compound 5 was the red colored substance. In the present investigation, these three compounds were found to contribute to the coloration.     

On the nature of DNA-duplex stability

The unwinding free energy of 128 DNA octamers was correlated with the sum of interaction energies among DNA bases and their solvation energies. The former energies were determined by using the recently developed density functional theory procedure augmented by London dispersion energy (RI-DFT-D) that provides accurate hydrogen-bonding and stacking energies highly comparable with CCSD(T)/complete basis set limit benchmark data. Efficient tight-binding DFT covering dispersion energy was also used and yielded satisfactory results. The latter method can be used for extended systems. The solvation energy was determined by using a C-PCM continuum solvent at HF level calculations. Various models were adopted to correlate theoretical energies with experimental unwinding free energies. Unless all energy components (hydrogen-bonding, intra- and interstrand-stacking, and solvation energies) were included and weighted individually, no satisfactory correlation resulted. The most advanced model yielded very close correlation (RMSE=0.32 kcal mol(-1)) fully comparable with the entirely empirical correlation introduced in the original paper. Analysis of the theoretical results shows the importance of inter- and intramolecular stacking energies, and especially the latter term plays a key role in determining DNA-duplex stabilization.     

Specific features of radical generation in the reaction of thiols with hydrogen peroxide

Russian Chemical Bulletin - Using the method of inhibitors it was found that the reduction of H2O2 with natural thiols in aqueous solutions is accompanied by the formation of radicals. The reaction...