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The question has its roots in why only carbon mainly shows catenation. I don't see why such a compound cannot be formed. Why don't we have a whole branch dealing with such compounds other than organic chemistry? If this compound can exist then such atoms will also be able to form a large number of compounds like the organic compounds.

hBy2Py
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N.S.JOHN
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  • Look at C-C and O-O bond strengths - and compare the O-O bond strength to that of O=O. Same goes for nitrogen (compare N-N single with N-N triple bond). Why can't you just have graphite-like layers of nitrogen? – orthocresol Feb 06 '16 at 11:40
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    Computationally it has been predicted that arbitrarily large $\ce{H2O_{x}}$ molecules are technically stable, though after more than a few they are presumably quite shortlived. – Nicolau Saker Neto Feb 06 '16 at 11:41
  • @Nicolau Saker Neto so you are saying that what sets carbon apart is its tetravalency and not catenation? – N.S.JOHN Feb 06 '16 at 11:46
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    @NicolauSakerNeto Derek Lowe posted on peroxide peroxides. Seems the five-oxygen species is about as long a chain as you're likely to get, even if only fleetingly. – hBy2Py Feb 06 '16 at 12:01
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    There are other elements which can catenate (boron and sulfur come to mind, iodine and mercury too in certain conditions), but carbon is pretty unique. I don't think any other element is expected to have a similar amount of covalent molecular chemistry – Nicolau Saker Neto Feb 06 '16 at 12:02
  • @NicolauSakerNeto If one is willing to allow chains composed of multiple types of atoms, one can do decently well with $\ce{Si}$ and $\ce{O}$ -- e.g., the siloxanes. (Though, even these generally use nicely stable organic carbon side/cap groups, as in polydimethylsiloxane.) – hBy2Py Feb 06 '16 at 12:07
  • @Brian Ah yes, some element combinations can go quite far. Silicon and oxygen are definitely a good match with rich chemistry. Sulfur and nitrogen also catenate well. Then there's transition metal polyoxometalates. Surely many other examples. Here's a Wikipedia link which is quite relevant – Nicolau Saker Neto Feb 06 '16 at 12:13
  • A related, and surely under-upvoted, topic is here, dealing with the low strength of the peroxo bond. As well, this question addresses the thermochemistry of $\ce{H2O2}$ decomposition directly. – hBy2Py Feb 06 '16 at 12:44
  • O is quite small. And it has lone pair and it has more tendency to go in -2 than in -1 state. It is like the second most electronegative element. Why?You know it better than me. Why do you think such a compound would be stable? If it were we would already be studying about them. C on the other hand, has the best suitable properties for catenation. – Quark Feb 06 '16 at 13:54

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