Bonding
The peroxide ion is composed of two oxygen atoms, which are linked by a single bond. This is consistent with the molecular orbital diagram of the peroxide ion, which predicts a doubly occupied antibonding π* orbital and a bond order of one. The bond length is 149 pm, which is larger than in the ground state (triplet oxygen) of the oxygen molecule (3O2, 121 pm). This translates into the smaller force constant of the bond (2.8 N/cm vs. 11.4 N/cm for 3O2) and the smaller frequency of the molecular vibration (770 cm−1 vs. 1555 cm−1 for 3O2).
The peroxide ion can be compared with other molecular oxygen ions superoxide O2− and ozonide O3−, but contrary to them, the peroxide is not a radical and not paramagnetic. Owing to the weak bonding between the oxygen atoms, peroxide easily undergoes homolytic cleavage yielding two highly reactive radicals. This cleavage is accelerated by temperature, illumination or chemical reactions.
Read more about this topic: Peroxide
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