Hydrogen peroxide is an important chemical compound with the simple formula H2 O2 . Hydrogen peroxide is the simplest peroxide being characterized by an oxygen–oxygen single bond. Though it appears very similar to water in its formula, the properties are very different. It finds extensive applications in day-to-day life as an oxidizer, bleaching agent and disinfectant. In addition, concentrated hydrogen peroxide, or “high-test peroxide”, is a reactive oxygen species and has found use as a propellant in rocketry. Its chemical nature is attributed to its unstable peroxide bond.
Since hydrogen peroxide is unstable and slowly decomposes in the presence of base or a catalyst, it is typically stored with a stabilizer in a weakly acidic solution. Hydrogen peroxide also occurs in biological systems including the human body. Enzymes that use or decompose hydrogen peroxide are classified as peroxidases. In its pure form, it is a colourless....
