Section 1

Redox in Coordination Compounds/Organic Compounds and Polymerization

**Chapter 1**

**1. Redox**

**3**

Introductory Chapter:

Redox - An Overview

*Muhammad Sufaid Khan and Hamsa Noreen*

The term "redox" is the combination of two different terms that describe two totally different chemical processes, i.e., "reduction" and "oxidation." The abbreviation "red" has been taken to distinguish reduction from oxidation that is "ox." The reduction is a process wherein any chemical entity gets reduced. It is different from oxidation, which is opposite of the reduction because the chemical entities are oxidized. These two processes or reactions which simultaneously take place in a

Oxidation-reduction was primarily used to describe the reaction(s) of combina-

The redox reaction(s) involves an oxidant or oxidizing agent and a reductant or reducing agent. The oxidant takes the electron(s) and oxidizes the reductant. The

Redox reactions are the key to make many desired chemical changes and/or processes reality to get maximum benefit out of it. A simple overview to surface the vital need of these reactions revolves around combustion, metabolic reactions, extraction of metals from their ores, manufacture of countless chemicals, and reactions occurring in our natural environment. For example, a cell either battery and/ or biological cell involves redox processes [1–3]. Research that involves the biological systems interprets that the electronic and the structural environment of the substance(s) are the key factors that control chemical transformations such as electron transfer mechanisms in DNA molecules, which may appear through the exposure of cells to radiations that may have the power of ionization to cause

reductant, however, donates the electron(s) and reduces the oxidant.

tion and/or removal of oxygen with or from chemical substances, respectively. Simultaneously, the removal and/or the addition of hydrogen were also used to differentiate among oxidation and reduction, respectively. The definitions were extended to a broader level, and the changes in the oxidation number or oxidation state of elements were considered to define oxidation and reduction. The increase in the oxidation number leads to oxidation and its alternative process yields reduction. This vast definition encompasses the recent and exact interpretation of "redox" reactions that is acceptance and donation of the electron(s) between the reacting entities. Consequently, the redox phenomenon indicates a simple reaction, formation of carbon dioxide as a consequence of the oxidation of carbon and/or formation of methane by the reduction of carbon, for example, and the complex reaction consisting of a number of electron transfer reactions during the oxidation of sugar

*Rozina Khattak, Murtaza Sayed,*

system are abbreviated as "redox."

in the human body to produce energy.

**1.1 General introduction**
