The Influence of Certain Inorganic Salts on the Germicidal Activity of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

Several investigators have noted during recent years that the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide is accelerated by the presence of certain inorganic salts. The results of earlier investigations have been sutmmarized by Bohnson (1921) who studied the mechanism of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by ferric salts, and noted that ethyl alcohol was oxidized to acetic acid by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a ferric salt, a reaction which was quantitatively studied by Walton and Christensen (1926). Walton and Graham (1928) in a study of the oxidation of certain dicarboxylic acids showed that ferric or cupric salts increased the oxidizing power of hydrogen peroxide. Promoter action ' in the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide has been extensively studied by Professor J. H. Walton and his students. Bohnson and Robertson (1923) and Robertson (1925) studied the promotor effect of cupric salts on the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by ferric salts. Robertson (1926, 1927) showed that the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by potassium dichromate was promoted by cobaltous or manganous salts. Walton and Graham (unpublished data) found that the oxidation of hydrazine by hydrogen peroxide was accelerated by both cupric and ferric ions, and that the cupric ions promoted the oxidation catalyzed by the ferric ions. The germicidal activity of hydrogen peroxide is apparently 1 A promoter in the broadest sense is a substance whose presence in relatively small amount increases the activity of a catalyst.