Enhancement of hydroxyl radical generation by phenols and their reaction intermediates during ozonation

Generation of hydroxyl radicals, one of the major active species in ozonation of water was directly observed with a spin-trapping/electron spin resonance (ESR) technique using 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrrolineN-oxide (DMPO) as a spin-trapping reagent. Hydroxyl radical were trapped with DMPO as a stable radical, DMPO-OH. Eighty μM of ozone produced 1.08 x 10^-6 M of DMPO-OH, indicating that 1.4% of OH is trapped with DMPO. Generation rate of DMPO-OH was determined by ESR/stopped-flow measurement. Phenol derivatives increased the amount and generation rate of DMPO-OH, indicating that phenol derivatives enhance OH generation during ozonation of water. Ozonation of 2,3-, 2,5-, 2,6-dichlorophenol gave an ESR spectra of triplet lines whose peak height ratio were 1:2:1. ESR parameters of the triplet lines agreed with those of the corresponding dichloro-psemiquinone radical. Ozonation of 2,4,5- and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol gave the same spectra as those of 2,5- and 2,6-dichlorophenol, respectively, indicating that a chlorine group in p-position is substituted with a hydroxy group during ozonation. Amounts of the radical increased in an ozone-concentration dependent manner and were inhibited by addition of hydroxyl radical scavengers. These results suggest that p-semiquinone radicals are generated from the chlorophenols by hydroxyl radicals during ozonation. The p-semiquinone radicals were at least partly responsible for enhancements of DMPO-OH generation.