Reducing agent

A reducing agent (also referred to as a reductant or reductor ) is, in the broadest sense, a substance that releases electrons and thus can reduce other substances and is itself oxidized ( electron donor ).

In connection with oxygen , the substance in a chemical reaction is called a reducing agent. B. an oxide that removes oxygen and is itself oxidized. Example: Coke reduces iron ore in the blast furnace and is itself oxidized to carbon dioxide.

The opposite of a reducing agent is an oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant or oxidizer ) ( electron acceptor ).

Examples

• Non-metals such as hydrogen , elemental carbon , but also all carbon-containing organic compounds
• Metals like the alkali metals ( lithium , sodium , potassium ), magnesium , aluminum , zinc
• Hydrides e.g. B. lithium aluminum hydride , sodium borohydride , sodium hydride
• Salts and molecular compounds e.g. B. sodium sulfite , sodium dithionite , sodium thiosulfate , hydrazine
• the group of substances of the aldehydes

See also

• Oxidizing agent
• Oxidation number
• Redox reaction

Web links

Wiktionary: reducing agents  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations