TY - JOUR
T1 - Reaction of phenol with singlet oxygen
AU - Al-Nu'Airat, Jomana
AU - Dlugogorski, Bogdan Z.
AU - Gao, Xiangpeng
AU - Zeinali, Nassim
AU - Skut, Jakub
AU - Westmoreland, Phillip R.
AU - Oluwoye, Ibukun
AU - Altarawneh, Mohammednoor
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Photo-degradation of organic pollutants plays an important role in their removal from the environment. This study provides an experimental and theoretical account of the reaction of singlet oxygen O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) with the biodegradable-resistant species of phenol in an aqueous medium. The experiments combine customised LED-photoreactors, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) imaging, employing rose bengal as a sensitiser. Guided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the M062X level, we report the mechanism of the reaction and its kinetic model. Addition of O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) to the phenol molecule branches into two competitive 1,4-cycloaddition and ortho ene-type routes, yielding 2,3-dioxabicyclo[2.2.2]octa-5,7-dien-1-ol (i.e., 1,4-endoperoxide 1-hydroxy-2,5-cyclohexadiene) and 2-hydroperoxycyclohexa-3,5-dien-1-one, respectively. Unimolecular rearrangements of the 1,4-endoperoxide proceed in a facile exothermic reaction to form the only experimentally detected product, para-benzoquinone. EPR revealed the nature of the oxidation intermediates and corroborated the appearance of O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) as the only active radical participating in the photosensitised reaction. Additional experiments excluded the formation of hydroxyl (HO), hydroperoxyl (HO 2 ), and phenoxy intermediates. We detected for the first time the para-semibenzoquinone anion (PSBQ), supporting the reaction pathway leading to the formation of para-benzoquinone. Our experiments and the water-solvation model result in the overall reaction rates of k r-solvation = 1.21 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 and k r = 1.14 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 , respectively. These results have practical application to quantify the degradation of phenol in wastewater treatment.
AB - Photo-degradation of organic pollutants plays an important role in their removal from the environment. This study provides an experimental and theoretical account of the reaction of singlet oxygen O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) with the biodegradable-resistant species of phenol in an aqueous medium. The experiments combine customised LED-photoreactors, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) imaging, employing rose bengal as a sensitiser. Guided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the M062X level, we report the mechanism of the reaction and its kinetic model. Addition of O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) to the phenol molecule branches into two competitive 1,4-cycloaddition and ortho ene-type routes, yielding 2,3-dioxabicyclo[2.2.2]octa-5,7-dien-1-ol (i.e., 1,4-endoperoxide 1-hydroxy-2,5-cyclohexadiene) and 2-hydroperoxycyclohexa-3,5-dien-1-one, respectively. Unimolecular rearrangements of the 1,4-endoperoxide proceed in a facile exothermic reaction to form the only experimentally detected product, para-benzoquinone. EPR revealed the nature of the oxidation intermediates and corroborated the appearance of O 2 ( 1 Δ g ) as the only active radical participating in the photosensitised reaction. Additional experiments excluded the formation of hydroxyl (HO), hydroperoxyl (HO 2 ), and phenoxy intermediates. We detected for the first time the para-semibenzoquinone anion (PSBQ), supporting the reaction pathway leading to the formation of para-benzoquinone. Our experiments and the water-solvation model result in the overall reaction rates of k r-solvation = 1.21 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 and k r = 1.14 × 10 4 M -1 s -1 , respectively. These results have practical application to quantify the degradation of phenol in wastewater treatment.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058851387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c8cp04852e
DO - 10.1039/c8cp04852e
M3 - Article
C2 - 30516179
AN - SCOPUS:85058851387
SN - 1463-9076
VL - 21
SP - 171
EP - 183
JO - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
IS - 1
ER -