Oxydation des composes organiques par le reactif de fenton: Possibilites et limites oxidation of organic compounds by Fenton's reagent: Possibilities and limits

Abstract

In order to specify the way Fenton's reactant acts in the large families of organic compounds and to compare the results with those obtained on alumina supported catalysts, we have studied the oxidation in aqueous medium of a certain number of model molecules chosen essentially among phenols, aromatic acids and aliphatic acids. For certain sample compounds the reaction products were identified by various methods such as mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance and chromatography‐mass spectrometry coupling. The results obtained show that the reactivity of Fenton's reactant is function of the nature of the organic compounds and that in every case the reaction is limited by the presence of ferrous iron in the medium and hence by the property reactional intermediates have of regenerating the catalyst in the medium. Under these conditions, the initial reactivity depends on the ferrous iron concentration in the medium whereas the yield and the global rate depend on the reduction of ferric iron into ferrous iron capable of producing reactive radical species.