Transient Reaction Intermediates in Oxidation Catalysis

Theoretical calculations have been performed to demonstrate their importance of the O2 intermediate for this reaction over 

On oxide catalysts 02 species have often been proposed to be the intermediates for total combustion. However, it is not always easy to distinguish between the role of shortlived 02 intermediates or the presence of uniquely reactive oxygen atoms. Unraveling the selective epoxidation mechanism by silver is a good examplel l of the difficulty in establishing the reactive oxygen form. 

---