Role of TEMPO in Enhancing Permanganate Oxidation toward Organic Contaminants

Permanganate (Mn­(VII)) has been widely applied as an oxidant in water treatment plants. However, compared with ozone, Fenton, and other advanced oxidation processes, the reaction rates of some trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) with Mn­(VII) are relatively low. Therefore, further studies on the strategies for enhancing the oxidation of organic contaminants by Mn­(VII) are valuable. In this work, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (TEMPO), as an electron shuttle, enhanced Mn­(VII) oxidation toward various TrOCs (i.e., bisphenol A (BPA), phenol, estrone, sulfisoxazole, etc.). TEMPO sped up the oxidative kinetics of BPA by Mn­(VII) greatly, and this enhancement was observed at a wide pH range of 4.0–11.0. The exact mechanism of TEMPO in Mn­(VII) oxidation was described briefly as follows: (i) TEMPO was oxidized by Mn­(VII) to its oxoammonium cation (TEMPO⁺) by electron transfer, which was the reactive species responsible for the accelerated degradation of TrOCs and (ii) TEMPO⁺ could decompose TrOCs rapidly with itself back to TEMPO or TEMPOH (TEMPO hydroxylamine). To further illustrate the interaction between TEMPO and target TrOCs, we explored the transformation pathways of BPA in Mn­(VII)/TEMPO oxidation. Compared to Mn­(VII) alone, adding TEMPO into the Mn­(VII) solution significantly suppressed BPA’s self-coupling and promoted hydroxylation, ring-opening, and decarboxylation. Moreover, the Mn­(VII)/TEMPO system was promising for the abatement of TrOCs in real waters for humic acid, and ubiquitous cations/anions had no adverse or even beneficial impact on the Mn­(VII)/TEMPO system.