Mechanistic Studies of TiO 2 Photocatalysis and Fenton Degradation of Hydrophobic Aromatic Pollutants in Water

HO–adduct radicals have been investigated and confirmed as the common initial intermediates in TiO 2 photocatalysis and Fenton degradations of water‐insoluble aromatics. However, the evolution of HO–adduct radicals to phenols has not been completely clarified. When 4‐d‐toluene and p‐ xylene were degraded by TiO 2 photocatalysis and Fenton reactions, respectively, a portion of the 4‐deuterium or 4‐CH 3 group (18–100 %) at the attacked ipso position shifted to the adjacent position of the ring in the formed phenols (NIH shift; NIH is short for the National Institutes of Health, to honor the place where this phenomenon was first discovered). The results, combined with the observation of a key dienyl cationic intermediate by in situ attenuated total reflectance FTIR spectroscopy, indicate that, for the evolution of HO–adduct radicals, a mixed mechanism of both the carbocation intermediate pathway and O 2 ‐capturing pathway occurs in both aqueous TiO 2 photocatalysis and aqueous Fenton reactions.