Sesquioxide

A sesquioxide is an oxide containing three atoms of oxygen with two atoms (or radicals) of another element. For example, aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) is a sesquioxide. Many sesquioxides contain the metal in the +3 oxidation state and the oxide ion, e.g., Al₂O₃, La₂O₃. The alkali metal sesquioxides are exceptions and contain both peroxide, (O2−
2) and superoxide, (O−
2) ions, e.g., Rb₂O₃ is formulated [(Rb+
)
4(O2−
2)(O−
2)
2].^[1] Sesquioxides of iron and aluminium are found in soil.

Sesquioxidizing, meaning the creation of a sesquioxide, is the highest scoring word that would fit on a Scrabble board,^[2] though it does not actually appear in any official Scrabble dictionary. The word first occurred in 1976 in Josepha Heifetz Byrne's Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words (ISBN 0806504986), though the Oxford English Dictionary already listed sesquioxidized and sesquioxidation.^[3] One could theoretically score 2044 points in a single move, when otherwise only words from the official Scrabble word list are used.^[4]

List of sesquioxides

[[B₂O₃]]
[[N₂O₃]]
[[Al₂O₃]]
P₂O₃, existing as [[P₄O₆]]
[[Cl₂O₃]]
[[Sc₂O₃]]
[[Ti₂O₃]]
[[V₂O₃]]
[[Cr₂O₃]]
[[Mn₂O₃]]
[[Fe₂O₃]]
[[Co₂O₃]]
[[Ni₂O₃]]
[[Ga₂O₃]]
[[As₂O₃]]
[[Br₂O₃]]
[[Y₂O₃]]
[[Nb₂O₃]]
[[In₂O₃]]

References