Oxidative Degradation of the Organochloride compounds

Author(s)

Carla Regina Costa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2005-04-15

Examining board members

Yassuko Iamamoto; Maria Lucia Arruda de Moura Campos; Raquel Fernandes Pupo Nogueira

• Advisor: Yassuko Iamamoto

Abstract

The environmental contamination by persistent organochloride compounds is a problem of modern society. The production of chemical wastes in the teaching and research laboratories is also worrying. Reagents like 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ) and 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-p-benzoquinone (p-chloranil) are frequently used in organic synthesis, mainly in the synthesis of porphyrins where these reagents are employed in excess. This kind of synthesis is frequently performed in the Bioinorganic Laboratory, where this research was developed, and therefore the main objective of this work was to study possible methods to treat chemical wastes containing such compounds as main constituents. Moreover, these compounds can be useful as model molecules in the study of organochlorides degradation in aqueous media. In this work, two degradation methods for DDQ and p-cloranil in aqueous solution were studied: (1) advanced oxidation process using H2O2 and UV radiation and (2) bioinspired process using iron(III)tetrasulfophthalocyanine (FeIIIPcS) as the catalyst and H2O2 as the oxidant. FeIIIPcS was used in a homogeneous system and was supported in functionalized silica containing N-trimetoxisililpropil-N,N,N-trimethylamonium groups. A batch reactor equipped with high-pressure Hg vapor lamp with the bulb removed, as the radiation source, was used in the advanced oxidation processes. These processes revealed to be quite efficient for the photodegradation of DDQ and p-chloranil in alkaline solution, reaching low values of Total Organic Carbon (COT). For a solution containing 100 ppm of C prepared from DDQ and 60 mmol L-1 of H2O2, after 2 hours of irradiation, the COT went down to 1.6%. Under the same conditions, it was obtained 4.4% of COT after 4 hours of irradiation of the solution of 100 ppm of C prepared from p-chloranil. Chloranilic acid (acid solution), the main product obtained from alkaline hydrolysis of p-chloranil, was also submitted to photodegradation using 60 mmol L-1 of H2O2. From a solution of 100 ppm of C of chloranilic acid, 0.7% of COT was obtained after 1 hour of irradiation. The FeIIIPcS/H2O2 system, in acid pH, made possible the degradation of the resulting product of DDQ hydrolysis (2-cyano-5,6-dichloro-3-hydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone) and of chloranilic acid in a aqueous homogeneous solution. However, the degradation of the catalyst occurred in that system. That did not happen when the supported catalyst was used. Chloranilic acid revealed to be more resistant to degradation than hidrolysed DDQ. For the degradation of that one, the best conversion ratio was obtained using the molar ratio catalyst:oxidant:substratum of 1:500:50, condition under which the substratum conversion ratio was 79% after 2 hours of reaction. Under that condition was observed, for UV/Vis spectrophotometry, a more prominent degradation of the quinonic ring. This work also presents some experiments aiming to better understand the DDQ, p-chloranil and FeIIIPcS chemical behavior in aqueous solution. (AU)