It is a process in which a substance undergoes oxidation and reduction by itself. It may be compared with disorientation reaction but in case of autoxidation the process occurs slowly without any action of heat, light or electricity. Some simple autoxidation reactions are given below :

                                                        2TiCI₃   →   TiCI₄ + TiCI₂
                                                       4KCIO₃   →     3KCIO₄ + KCI

Now let us discuss some of these autoxidation reactions in detail.
(i)    Nitrous acid decomposes as :

                                                        3HNO₂   →   HNO₃ + 2NO + 2H₂O

Here nitrous acid undergoes simultaneous oxidation and reduction into HNO3 and NO, respectively

(ii)    Hypochlorous acid undergoes autodidactic as follows :

Here
Manganic acid undergoes self oxidation and reduction into pemanganic acid and manganese dioxide. The two processes are summarized below:

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