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Concept
Oxidizing agent
Summary
An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or "accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In other words, an oxidizer is any substance that oxidizes another substance. The oxidation state, which describes the degree of loss of electrons, of the oxidizer decreases while that of the reductant increases; this is expressed by saying that oxidizers "undergo reduction" and "are reduced" while reducers "undergo oxidation" and "are oxidized".
Common oxidizing agents are oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and the halogens.
In one sense, an oxidizing agent is a chemical species that undergoes a chemical reaction in which it gains one or more electrons. In that sense, it is one component in an oxidation–reduction (redox) reaction. In the second sense, an oxidizing agent is a chemical species that transfers electronegative atoms, usually oxygen, to a substrate. Combustion, many explosives, and organic redox reactions involve atom-transfer reactions.
Electron acceptors participate in electron-transfer reactions. In this context, the oxidizing agent is called an electron acceptor and the reducing agent is called an electron donor. A classic oxidizing agent is the ferrocenium ion Fe(C5H5)2+, which accepts an electron to form Fe(C5H5)2. One of the strongest acceptors commercially available is "Magic blue", the radical cation derived from N(C6H4-4-Br)3.
Extensive tabulations of ranking the electron accepting properties of various reagents (redox potentials) are available, see Standard electrode potential (data page).
In more common usage, an oxidizing agent transfers oxygen atoms to a substrate. In this context, the oxidizing agent can be called an oxygenation reagent or oxygen-atom transfer (OAT) agent. Examples include MnO4- (permanganate), CrO42- (chromate), OsO4 (osmium tetroxide), and especially ClO4- (perchlorate). Notice that these species are all oxides.
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