Hydrogen Peroxide Complex of Zinc

Metal­(H2O2) complexes have been implicated in kinetic and computational studies but have never been observed. Accordingly, H2O2 has been described as a very weak ligand. We report the first metal­(H2O2) adduct, which is made possible by incorporating intramolecular hydrogen-bonding interactions with bound H2O2. This ZnII(H2O2) complex decays in solution by a second-order process that is slow enough to enable characterization of this species by X-ray crystallography. This report speaks to the intermediacy of metal­(H2O2) adducts in chemistry and biology and opens the door to exploration of these species in oxidation catalysis.