Alkali Metal Ozonides

Abstract

In the course of studies on the reaction of ozone with anhydrous metal hydroxides, I. A. Kazarnovskii [I, 2] confirmed the formation of red-colored products which had been first reported at the turn of the century by a number of investigators [3, 4, 5]. These products represent a new class of compounds characterized by the presence of the 0; ion and classified as ozonides. The 0; ion has an odd number of electrons and, as a result, the ozonides are paramagnetic. They can be considered to be free radicals with high chemical reactivity and an unusally long lifetime. The existence of the ° 3-ion in these compounds has been established by x-ray studies [6], magnetic studies [1], electron paramagnetic resonance studies [7-10], and by spectroscopic studies [7]. The ozonides of sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, and ammonium have been prepared. Attempts to synthesize pure ozonides of lithium and the alkaline earth metals have not, as yet, been successful. According to Kazarnovskii [2, 11], the formation of alkali metal ozonides proceeds according to the following steps: 2MOH + 0 3 2MOH' 0 3 (a) 2MOH • 0 3 +20 3 2M0 3 + 2H0 2 + 20 2 (b) 2H0 2 H 2 0 + 1.50 2 (c) MOH + H 2 O MOH' H 2 O (d) 3MOH +40 3 2M0 3 + MOH • H 2 0 + 3.502 (e)