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What is an example of a disproportionation reaction?

Answer 1

The disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide to give oxygen and water would be a good example.

#"The formal oxidation number"# of oxygen in #"hydrogen peroxide"# is #O^(-I)#. #H_2O_2# disproportionates to oxygen and water under acidic conditions:

#"Oxidation:"#

#H_2O_2 rarr 2H^(+) + O_2 +2e^(-)#

#"Reduction:"#

#H_2O_2 + 2H^(+) + 2e^(-) rarr 2H_2O(l) #

#"Overall:"#

#2H_2O_2(l) + rarr 2H_2O(l) + O_2(g) #

#H_2O_2(l) + rarr H_2O(l) + 1/2O_2(g) #

In hydrogen peroxide, univalent oxygen is oxidized to dioxygen gas and reduced to water.

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Answer 2

Naomi Aronson

An example of a disproportionation reaction is the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into water (H2O) and oxygen gas (O2). The balanced chemical equation for this reaction is:

2H2O2 → 2H2O + O2

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.