There is a water-based mouthwash product which is advertised as having the ingredient "stabilized chlorine dioxide." The only other listed ingredients are trisodium phosphate and citric acid. I assume this is a buffering solution or something.
In the company's documentation, it says it contains
a stabilized molecular form of chlorine dioxide.
But in another location, the company claims that
the solution is naturally activated by the amino acids in saliva,
creating a small and very safe amount of chlorine dioxide.
So that sounds to me like there's actually something else in the solution, and the that the ClOX2 is being produced ("activated") during use.
I've done some reading, and I have learned that ClOX2 can be produced in several ways, but all of these methods seem to involve unpleasant reagents like chlorine gas, HCl, or oxalic acid.
I'd like to know what actual compound might be referred to as "stabilized chlorine dioxide" and what reactions might be involved.
I'm not asking about the effectiveness of the product, or what value ClOX2 might have as a disinfectant, I'm just curious as to whether the claims made about the ingredients are plausible, and if so, what reactions might account for this?
