Advanced oxidation/reduction processes (AORPs) are top tier approaches for the treatment of recalcitrant pollutants, in which strongly reactive species, such as hydroxyl radicals and hydrated electrons, are generated in situ by activating traditional oxidants/reductants with chemical/thermal/mechanical energies. The chemical potentials of the reactive species in AORPs are high enough to overcome the energy barriers in the redox conversion of the pollutants. On the other hand, the high chemical potentials make the reactive species of poor selectivity, which are prone to be consumed by the co-existing matrices in water. As a result, in the treatment of real wastewaters, most of the AORPs are suffering from low efficiency and consequently are of high cost. Moreover, some of the precursors used in the AORPs are of high hazardous in transporting/storage or not environmentally friendly. Therefore, greener strategies are still highly needed. Some small diketones, such as the simplest alpha-diketone (diacetyl) and the simplest beta-diketone (acetylacetone), are naturally present in plants and fermented liquors. Under UV irradiation, they could generate selective radicals and convert many types of pollutants. Are UV/diketones promising alternatives of the currently available AORPs? Answers were given in this work from three aspects: 1. the environmental implications of small diketones; 2. the merits of UV/diketones in redox conversion of pollutants; and 3. the potential use of diketones in some other scenarios. The results in our recent work demonstrate that small diketones are greener agents for water pollution control than many of the precursors used in AORPs. The use of small diketones might pave up a new path in water treatment by applying small organic molecules as alternatives of traditional oxidants/reductants. The significance of this work to environmental chemistry might be comparable to the use of small organic molecules as the third category of catalysts in organic synthesis. The successful use of small diketones as water treatment agents has also attracted research interests in the contribution of diketone moieties to the redox capacities of natural organic matter and the role of diketones in living organisms, such as bloom-forming cyanobacteria.

Are small diketones greener agents for water pollution control？

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