ABSTRACT
Researchers encountered the phenomenon of the formation of an active intermediate during
the oxidation of metals and organic compounds in the middle of the 19th century. Shonbein
was the first to discover ozone formation in a slow oxidation of phosphine [1], diethyl ether,
and ethyl alcohol [2]. He observed the oxidation of hydrogen iodide into diiodine and
oxidation of indigo that accompanied the oxidation of Zn, SO2, FeO, H2S, AsH3, SbH3,
and organic compounds [3-12]. Shonbein [13] put forward the hypothesis of participation of
free charged oxygen atoms (‘‘ozone’’ O and ‘‘antozone’’ Oþ) in oxidation. He considered the oxygen of air as a monoatomic molecule, which can be in passive ‘‘Oo’’ and active (O and Oþ) forms and proposed the following general scheme of oxidation:
Aþ 2Oo ! AþO þOþ AþO ! AO (ozonide)
H2OþOþ ! H2O2 (antozonide)
This scheme faced with a few contradictions. It was yet known at that time that an oxygen
molecule consists of two oxygen atoms. The study of the ozone molecule showed that it
includes more than two oxygen atoms. And, at last, Engler and Nasse [14] proved that gas
‘‘antozone’’ in Shonbein’s experiment was nothing but vapors of the formed hydrogen
peroxide. The proposed scheme with the participation of hypothetical polarized oxygen
atoms (‘‘ozone’’ and ‘‘antozone’’) in oxidation appeared false. However, its background,
namely, the facts of active intermediate formation in oxidation were very important for the
future development of the theory of oxidation.