The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is catalyzed by
iodide ion...

Question

The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is catalyzed by
iodide ion. The catalyzed reaction is thought to proceed
by a two-step mechanism:
H2O21aq2 + I - 1aq2¡H2O1l2 + IO- 1aq2 1slow2
IO- 1aq2 + H2O21aq2¡H2O1l2 + O21g2 + I - 1aq2 1fast2
(b) Identify the intermediate, if any, in the mechanism.

Accepted Answer

welcome back everyone in this example, we have the decomposition of ozone in the atmosphere and its proposed to occur via the following two step mechanism. We need to identify what are intermediate here would be So we want to recall the definition first of an intermediate. And we should recall that an intermediate is going to be produced in one step of a reaction as a product. Whereas in another step of reaction it's going to be consumed as a reactant. And so we need to identify which of our re agents follows the action as an intermediate. So looking at step one of our mechanism, we have chlorine gas reacting with ozone gas to produce as a product, chlorine monoxide and oxygen gas. Moving on to step two are mechanism we have chlorine monoxide now listed as a reactant, which is being consumed along with the second reacting ozone to produce chlorine gas and two moles of oxygen gas. And so what we should recognize is the trend where Chlorine Monoxide First was produced as a product in step one. So produced as a product. Whereas in step two we can see that our chlorine monoxide is now consumed as a reactant to form chlorine gas and two moles of oxygen gas as now the products. And so we would say that because our chlorine monoxide followed this or these actions in our mechanism, we can say that therefore chlorine monoxide gas acts as the sorry, acts as the intermediate in our given mechanism. And so this statement here would be our final answer to complete this example as the properly identified intermediate in our reaction chlorine monoxide. So I hope that everything that I reviewed was clear, but if you have any questions, just leave them down below and I will see everyone in the next practice video.

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