Reductions with non-Metal Compounds

Preparation of transition metal compounds with non-metals by electrolytic reduction of fused salts... 

Equilibrium considerations other than those of binding are those of oxidation/reduction potentials to which we drew attention in Section 1.14 considering the elements in the sea. Inside cells certain oxidation/reductions also equilibrate rapidly, especially those of transition metal ions with thiols and -S-S- bonds, while most non-metal oxidation/reduction changes between C/H/N/O compounds are slow and kinetically controlled (see Chapter 2). In the case of fast redox reactions oxidation/reduction potentials are fixed constants. 

First of all, note that the term "oxidation" is based on a historical premise that is not relevant from a more modem perspective namely, the combining of another element with oxygen to form a simple binary compounds i.e., an "oxide" similarly, the removal of oxygen atoms from an oxide molecule leaving the "reduced" element was the concept intended for the term "reduction". Although this idea works fairly well for many of the more simple interactions of oxygen with both metal and non-metal elements, a better, more comprehensive, definition that includes similar reactions with other elements, such as fluorine and chlorine, evolved that was based on the transfer of electrons from one atom (or ion) to another. 

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