Excited triplet states of organic chromophores, in particular aromatic ketones, are capable of inducing oxidation of a variety of organic compounds. These reactions probably play an important role in the degradation of organic contaminants in sunlit natural waters. The effect of dissolved natural organic matter (DOM) on the oxidation rate of twenty-two aquatic organic contaminants, including phenols, anilines, phenylurea and s-triazine herbicides, and some pharmaceuticals, was investigated using photoexcited benzophenone-4-carboxylate (CBBP) as the oxidant. For about half of the studied compounds, a decrease in depletion rate was observed in the presence of Suwannee River fulvic acid, used as a reference DOM. Also, depletion rates decreased with increasing DOM concentration, as verified for five selected compounds. Such an inhibitory effect of DOM on oxidation is attributed to its antioxidant properties, whereby oxidation intermediates of the contaminants are supposed to be reduced back to their parent compounds. The presented screening study shows that DOM may be a relevant factor for inhibiting the oxidation of many organic contaminants in surface waters and possibly in engineered water treatment systems.
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