Deposition, decomposition and stabilization of peroxides in Santiago City dew waters

Peroxides present in Santiago City dew waters readily decompose with first order kinetics. In order to minimize the loss of peroxides during the time elapsed between deposition and collection, the collectors were pre-treated with a mercury chloride solution. This reduces, but not completely eliminates, the decomposition. A correction is introduced by a comparison of the levels and decomposition kinetics of the samples collected in treated and untreated collectors. The average concentration estimated by this procedure was 8.1 μM. The mechanism of peroxide decomposition and its stabilization is discussed.