What Are Peroxide Antiseptics?

- Definition, Types & Uses

We will discuss chemical substances known as peroxides. You'll learn about hydrogen peroxide and peracetic
acid as well as the way by which they kill microbes and whether or not they are used as a sterilant, disinfectant, or
antiseptic.

Vitamin C Protection for Microbes

Around wintertime, you probably stock up on some vitamin C. The reason is likely because, thanks
to a scientist called Linus Pauling, you believe that taking plenty of vitamin C will somehow prevent
infection or onset of disease.

While that may not necessarily be the case, taking vitamin C does have its bene ts - namely,
vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, which is something that microbes wish they could take as
supplement to combat the killing e ects of the substances we are going to cover in this lesson.

Hydrogen Peroxide
The two substances we're going to talk about in a little bit are both known as peroxides. A
peroxide is a chemical compound that contains two oxygen atoms linked by a covalent bond. A
covalent bond is like a really strong handshake between two atoms - in this case, oxygen atoms,
which link them together.

The most famous peroxide that many have heard of is known as hydrogen peroxide, which is a
chemical than can be used as an antiseptic or a sterilant. This means that it can be used to clean
living tissue such as skin from most living organisms or can be used to kill o all living microbes on
inanimate objects.

Depending on its concentration and mixture with other chemical compounds, hydrogen peroxide
can kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and even hardy bacterial spores. The way it is able to kill so many
di erent microbes is by generating something known as 'free radicals.' Free radicals are extremely
dangerous particles that react with anything in their path.

I sometimes liken the free radicals to an extremely dangerous little bullet that can destroy any
substance. In reality, one type of bullet may be able to annihilate esh, but not armor, and others
can destroy both, but not boulders, and so forth.

Well, free radicals are like a magic bullet - they can damage everything and anything. This includes
a microbe's cell membrane or nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA. If these structures are
bombarded with enough free radicals, they will be demolished, which will lead to the death of the
microbe.

This is why these microbes would love to pop a vitamin C pill or drink some orange juice that
contains vitamin C. That's because vitamin C is an antioxidant and is able to essentially absorb free
radicals like a force shield would absorb and stop our magical bullet in order to protect the
structures that make up a microbe.

The great thing about hydrogen peroxide is its versatility. It can be put on a table's surface and
used as a disinfectant, or it can be put on a cotton swab and used as an antiseptic on a wound.

However, this latter point is still controversial and is best avoided unless absolutely necessary, as
the free radicals generated by the hydrogen peroxide aren't picky - meaning they will attack and kill
your own body's cells and may actually not do all that great a job of killing microbes in your wound,
as some research has shown.

In any case, the nal way hydrogen peroxide can be used in certain preparations is as a chemical
sterilant for medical equipment.

Peracetic Acid
With that latest point in mind, another peroxide-based chemical sterilant is known as peracetic
acid, which again is a chemical compound used as a sterilant for medical equipment.

The way by which peracetic acid works is very similar to how hydrogen peroxide kills o microbes.
Because peracetic acid is considered to be a sterilant, something that kills all microbes on an
inanimate object or surface, it should make sense that it can kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and
bacterial spores when used properly.

One advantage of peracetic acid, as with hydrogen peroxide, is that it can be used on heat-sensitive
equipment because it is considered to be a cold liquid chemical sterilant. Furthermore, peracetic
acid has two advantages over hydrogen peroxide. First of all, it is far deadlier to microbes at lower
concentrations. Secondly, it can remain e ective in the presence of organic substances.

What that latter point means is as follows: if you were to go outside and take a look at the sidewalk,
you'd notice that even though very super cially the sidewalk looks white and relatively clean, it's
actually not. If you kneel down and take a close look at the bumpy surface of the sidewalk, you'd
notice some grey and black specks. Those specs are most likely organic soil. This organic soil can
very easily interfere with the microbicidal activity of hydrogen peroxide.

You can like the soil to a de ection apparatus that de ects our magic bullet in another direction,
away from its microbial target. If the bullet is de ected, it obviously cannot kill the microbe. That's
what the organic soil does.

However, peracetic acid remains e ective even in the presence of the organic soil. You can liken it
to a bullet that isn't able to be de ected; it'll just get to its target no matter what!
Lesson Summary
With that in mind, let's quickly go over the important parts of this lesson.

The two substances we talked about are both known as a peroxide. A peroxide is a chemical
compound that contains two oxygen atoms linked by a covalent bond. The most famous peroxide
that many have heard of is known as hydrogen peroxide, which is a chemical than can be used as
an antiseptic or a sterilant.

The way hydrogen peroxide is able to kill so many di erent microbes is by generating something
known as free radicals. Free radicals are extremely dangerous particles that react with anything in
their path; this includes a microbe's cell membrane or nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA.

Another peroxide-based chemical sterilant we discussed is known as peracetic acid, which again is
a chemical compound used as a sterilant for medical equipment. It is very similar to hydrogen
peroxide in how it works but is far deadlier to microbes at lower concentrations.

Learning Outcomes
When the lesson is done, you should be able to:

De ne peroxide

Recall hydrogen peroxide's uses as an antiseptic, disinfectant or sterilant

Summarize the drawbacks of using hydrogen peroxide

Recognize peracetic acid as a peroxide sterilant

Explain the advantages of using peracetic acid