Abstract
The principal features of the homogeneous-catalytic decomposition of hydroperoxides in the presence of variable-valence metal compounds are examined and kinetic and physicochemical evidence for the formation of intermediate catalyst–hydroperoxide complexes and their subsequent decomposition into free radicals and molecular products is presented. Factors influencing the change in the mode of decomposition of the hydroperoxide are analysed and a special section is devoted to the catalysis of the decomposition of hydroperoxides by soluble molybdenum, vanadium, and tungsten compounds and also to the mechanism of the catalytic epoxidation of olefins by bound oxygen.
The bibliography includes 134 references.