UV photolysis of H2O2 in solid Ar, Kr, and Xe yields isolated OH radicals and a complex between a water molecule and a ground-state (3P) oxygen atom. The vibrational bands of the HOH···O complex are observed at 3730.1 and 3633.0 cm-1 in Ar, at 3718.6 and 3622.4 cm-1 in Kr, and at 3704.3 and 3607.3 cm-1 in Xe matrices. The assignment is based on isotopic substitution, selective photoinduced processes between H2O2 and HOH···O, and ab initio calculations. In Kr and Xe matrices, the complex is formed with much less efficiency when compared with Ar matrices, indicating the existence of other photolysis channels. Computational results on the complex geometry and vibrational frequencies are presented and compared with experimental data.

UV photolysis of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in various rare-gas matrixes is comparatively studied. The photorecovery of H2O2 from the tight H2O⋯O complex is observed in Kr and Xe matrixes, in addition to this reaction in an Ar matrix found previously. The similarity of spectral position and efficiency of the photorecovery reaction in various rare-gas solids indicates its fundamental character, supports charge-transfer excitation of H2O⋯O as its origin, and preserves promises to find this photoreaction in media of environmental importance. In UV photolysis of H2O2, the relatively small concentration of isolated OH radicals is found in a Kr matrix, and no OH radicals appear in a Xe matrix, and this trend is discussed in terms of delayed cage exit. Moreover, additional species photogenerated from H2O2 in a Xe matrix as well as the absence of OH radicals might be connected with participation of some hidden intermediates (HOXeOH, HXeOOH, etc.) in the dynamics, thus, catalyzing new photodissociation channels. Among the photolysis products, the loose H2O//O complex is suggested to be stabilized in Kr and Xe matrixes. This loosely bound complex is quasistable and decomposes at relatively low temperatures (below 20 K) quantitatively forming the known tight H2O⋯O structure. This low-temperature process offers one additional example of short-range atomic mobility introduced recently in the literature.

Productive photochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide, H(2)O(2), from the H(2)O...O((3)P) van der Waals complex is studied in solid krypton. Experimentally, we achieve the three-step formation of H(2)O(2) from H(2)O and N(2)O precursors frozen in solid krypton. First, 193 nm photolysis of N(2)O yields oxygen atoms in solid krypton. Upon annealing at approximately 25 K, mobile oxygen atoms react with water forming the H(2)O...O complex, where the oxygen atom is in the triplet ground state. Finally, the H(2)O...O complex is converted to H(2)O(2) by irradiation at 300 nm. According to the complete active space self-consistent field modeling, hydrogen peroxide can be formed through the photoexcited H(2)O+-O- charge-transfer state of the H(2)O...O complex, which agrees with the experimental evidence.

Experimental and theoretical investigations of rate coefficients of the reaction S ( 3 P )+ O 2 in the temperature range 298-878 K