Advanced Chem question: Lead Peroxide?

delroland

K, so we're doing nomenclature in class today, which is horrendously boring for me as I am not a total idiot. Anyways, I was asked to name the compound PbO₂, and a thought struck me: was this lead(iv) oxide or lead(ii) peroxide? Curious, I later looked up both substances online and found that, apparently, lead(ii) peroxide doesn't exist.

My question, then, is this: why doesn't lead(ii) peroxide exist, naturally or in the lab?

electricitylikesme

delroland wrote:

K, so we're doing nomenclature in class today, which is horrendously boring for me as I am not a total idiot. Anyways, I was asked to name the compound PbO₂, and a thought struck me: was this lead(iv) oxide or lead(ii) peroxide? Curious, I later looked up both substances online and found that, apparently, lead(ii) peroxide doesn't exist.

My question, then, is this: why doesn't lead(ii) peroxide exist, naturally or in the lab?

Peroxide has to be X-O-O-X.

Lead in that bonding configuration is still in the +1 valence state. The molecule would probably auto-react to yield PbO2 and a Pb2+ instead. No it wouldn't - the easiest way out of that would be to go and become Pb(I)O, but off-the-top of my head that would be an unstable intermediate.

delroland

I think I found it under "Bonding" on the peroxide wiki page: "Owing to the weak bonding between the oxygen atoms, peroxide easily undergoes homolytic cleavage." So it would probably go 2 PbO₂ -> 2 PbO + O₂ almost immediately, even if it was created in the lab.