Organic Peroxides

Organic peroxides possess one or more oxygen–oxygen bonds, which decompose thermally to produce two radicals. The rates of decompositions can be enhanced by specific promoters or activators being mostly multivalent metals such as iron, cobalt or vanadium.

They significantly decrease the energy necessary to break the oxygen–oxygen bond. Such accelerated decompositions occur below the normal application temperatures of the peroxides usually resulting in generation of only one useful radical, instead of two.