Peroxydisulfates

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Chemical compounds containing two sulfate groups linked by a peroxide bond; strong oxidizing agents used in polymerization; salts that release free radicals upon decomposition
2. Substances featuring sulfate pairs connected through an oxygen-oxygen single bond; employed as initiators in chemical reactions; compounds capable of producing reactive oxygen species
3. Molecules composed of dual sulfate units bridged by a peroxide linkage; utilized primarily for their ability to trigger polymer formation; oxidative salts that generate radicals when broken down

Etymology: "Peroxydisulfates" is the plural of "peroxydisulfate," a chemical term for a class of oxidizing salts that contain the peroxydisulfate ion, made of two sulfate groups joined by an oxygen-oxygen bond. The singular names one such compound; the plural refers to several of them together, as chemists often do when discussing a family of related salts. The word is built from familiar chemical building blocks. "Per-" marks a compound with extra oxygen, "oxy-" refers to oxygen, "di-" means two, and "sulfate" names the sulfur-and-oxygen group. Chemical nomenclature of this kind was systematized in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, so the word is a modern technical coinage rather than an ancient one.

Synonyms: persulfates, peroxodisulfates