Advanced
oxidation processes (AOPs) often employ strong oxidizing
inorganic radicals (e.g., hydroxyl and sulfate radicals) to oxidize
contaminants in water treatment. However, the water matrix could scavenge
the strong oxidizing radicals, significantly deteriorating the treatment
efficiency. Here, we report a periodate/catechol process in which
reactive quinone species (RQS) including the o-semiquinone
radical (o-SQ•–) and o-benzoquinone (o-Q) were dominant to effectively
degrade anilines within 60 s. The second-order reaction rate constants
of o-SQ•– and o-Q with aniline were determined to be 1.0 × 108 and
4.0 × 103 M–1 s–1, respectively, at pH 7.0, which accounted for 21% and 79% of the
degradation of aniline with a periodate-to-catechol molar ratio of
1:1. The major byproducts were generated via addition or polymerization.
The RQS-based process exhibited excellent anti-interference performance
in the degradation of aniline-containing contaminants in real water
samples in the presence of diverse inorganic ions and organics. Subsequently,
we extended the RQS-based process by employing tea extract and dissolved
organic matter as catechol replacements as well as metal ions [e.g.,
Fe(III) or Cu(II)] as periodate replacements, which also exhibited
good performance in aniline degradation. This study provides a novel
strategy to develop RQS-based AOPs for the highly selective degradation
of aniline-containing emerging contaminants.