Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 24, 2026

Peroxynitrate

Peroxynitrate (or peroxonitrate) refers to salts of the unstable peroxynitric acid, HNO4. Peroxynitrate is unstable and decomposes to nitrate and dioxygen.

Last revised
Jun 24, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
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Citations
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Source
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Peroxynitrate
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Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChEBI
ChemSpider
  • InChI=1S/HNO4/c2-1(3)5-4/h4H/p-1
    Key: UUZZMWZGAZGXSF-UHFFFAOYSA-M
  • [N+](=O)([O-])O[O-]
Properties
NO4−
Molar mass 78.004 g·mol−1
Related compounds
Related compounds
 peroxycarbonate; peroxysulfate
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

Peroxynitrate (or peroxonitrate) refers to salts of the unstable peroxynitric acid, HNO4. Peroxynitrate is unstable and decomposes to nitrate and dioxygen.1

No solid peroxynitrate salts are known.2 However, there is a report that the chemist Sebastian Moiseevich Tanatar produced sodium peroxynitrate octahydrate (NaNO3·H2O2·8H2O) by evaporating a solution of sodium nitrate and hydrogen peroxide until crystallisation begins and then mixing with alcohol to form crystals of the octahydrate.3

References

References

  1. Miyamoto, Sayuri; Ronsein, Graziella E.; Corrêa, Thaís C.; Martinez, Glaucia R.; Medeiros, Marisa H. G.; Di Mascio, Paolo (2009). "Direct evidence of singlet molecular oxygen generation from peroxynitrate, a decomposition product of peroxynitrite". Dalton Transactions (29): 5720–5729. doi:10.1039/b905560f. ISSN 1477-9226. PMID 20449086.
  2. Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. doi:10.1016/C2009-0-30414-6. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
  3. Mellor, Joseph William (1922). A Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry, Volume 2. New York: Longmans, Green and Co. p. 816.