Oxidation of phenyl vinyl sulphide and phenyl vinyl sulphoxide in aqueous solution: A pulse radiolysis and theoretical study

Oxidative degradation of fensulfothion by hydroxyl radical in aqueous medium

Oxidative degradation of fensulfothion, a model organophosphorus compound, has been investigated by pulse radiolysis and H2O2/UV photolysis. A nearly complete transformation of fensulfothion was observed within 4min of irradiation. Very little Total Organic Carbon (TOC) reduction was obtained at this time scale. When the product studies at this stage were conducted using LC-MS/MS analyses, nearly 20 transformation products were obtained. The entire products were identified as from the reaction of OH with fensulfothion or with some of its initially transformed products. Nearly 80% reduction in TOC was observed when photolysis was conducted using higher concentrations of H2O2 at longer time scale. A reaction rate constant (bimolecular) of 1.10×10(10)dm(3)mol(-1)s(-1) was obtained for the reaction of OH with fensulfothion using pulse radiolysis technique. The transient absorption spectrum obtained from the reaction of OH has a maximum at 280nm and a weak, broad maximum around 500nm along with a small shoulder around 340nm. The intermediate spectrum is assigned to the radical cation of fensulfothion (3) and the hydroxyl radical adducts (1 and 2). This assignment is supported by the intermediate spectrum (λmax at 280nm) from the reaction of sulfate radical anion (SO4(-)) (k2=3.20×10(9)dm(3)mol(-1)s(-1)) which is a one electron oxidant. It is thus demonstrated that the combination of both pulse radiolysis and the product estimation using LC-MS/MS is ideal in probing the complete mechanism which is very important in the mineralization reactions using Advanced Oxidation Processes.

Radiation and quantum chemical studies of chalcone derivatives

The reactions of oxidizing radicals ((*)OH, Br(2)(*-), and SO(4)(*-)) with -OH-, -CH(3)-, or -NH(2)-substituted indole chalcones and hydroxy benzenoid chalcones were studied by radiation and quantum chemical methods. The (*)OH radical was found to react by addition at diffusion-controlled rates (k = 1.1-1.7 x 10(10) dm(3) mol(-1) s(-1)), but Br(2)(*-) radical reacted by 2 orders of magnitude lower. Quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level of theory have shown that the (C2-OH)(*), (C11-OH)(*), and (C10-OH)(*) adducts of the indole chalcones and the (C7-OH)(*) and (C8-OH)(*) adducts of the hydroxy benzenoid chalcones are more stable with DeltaH = -39 to -28 kcal mol(-1) and DeltaG = -32 to -19 kcal mol(-1). This suggests that (*)OH addition to the alpha,beta-unsaturated bond is a major reaction channel in both types of chalcones and is barrierless. The stability and lack of dehydration of the (*)OH adducts arise from two factors: strong frontier orbital interaction due to the low energy gap between interacting orbitals and the negligible Coulombic repulsion due to small absolute values of Mulliken charges. The transient absorption spectrum measured in the (*)OH radical reaction with all the indole chalcone derivatives exhibited a maximum at 390 nm, which is in excellent agreement with the computed value (394 nm). The formation of three phenolic products under steady-state radiolysis is in line with the three stable (*)OH adducts predicted by theory. Independent of the substituent, identical spectra (lambda(max) = 330-360 and approximately 580 nm) were obtained on one-electron oxidation of the three indole chalcones. MO calculations predict the deprotonation from the -NH group is more efficient than from the substituent due to the larger electron density on the N1 atom forming the chalcone indolyl radical. Its reduction potential was determined to be 0.56 V from the ABTS(*-)/ABTS(2-) couple. In benzenoid chalcones, the (*)OH adduct spectrum is characterized by a peak at 270 nm and a broad maximum centered in the range 430-450 nm with an intense bleaching at 340 nm. The spectrum formed by electron transfer in these derivatives with lambda(max) = 280 and 380 nm (epsilon(280) = 5000 dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1) and epsilon(380) = 700 dm(3) mol(-1) cm(-1)) was assigned to its phenoxyl radical. Our pulse radiolysis experiments in combination with quantum chemical calculations demonstrate that chalcones are efficient scavengers of damaging oxyl radicals.