Redox Redux: Recommendations for Improving Textbook and IUPAC Definitions

Abstract

It is suggested that writers avoid defining oxidation (and related terms) as "transfer of electrons" in favor of a definition involving change of oxidation state. The latter formal definition would include reactions like NO3 + CO NO2 + CO2, which are known to proceed via an atom transfer mechanism, and it would allow treatment of redox reactions without commitment to a particular mechanism.