A bleaching composition comprising a peroxy compound and one or more activator present in an effective amount to activate the peroxy compound, present in an amount effective to accomplish bleaching or cleaning or oxidation. The activator is a metallocarbene of the general structure (XX′C)yMLn′ where M represents a metal center, C represents the carbene carbon bound to the metal center, X and X′ may be the same or different and may furthermore be part of a cyclic structure, Ln′ represents one or more other ligands which may or may not include one or more metal centers, and where y>；1.
