Oxidation of Aquatic Organic Contaminants Induced by Excited Triplet States

Abstract

The developments of the last fifteen years in the field of triplet-induced degradation of aquatic organic contaminants are reviewed. There is increasing evidence that the elusive excited triplet states of colored dissolved natural organic matter (CDOM) initiate the oxidative degradation of various contaminants. To date, phenols, phenylurea herbicides, and sulfonamide antibiotics have been shown to be affected by such an oxidation. The parallel study of aqueous oxidation of target contaminants induced by excited triplet states of aromatic ketones, taken as model systems, has been useful in understanding the action of triplet CDOM and in developing predictive tools to assess aquatic oxidation rates of such contaminants.