The intrinsic mechanism of catalytic oxidation of arsenite by hydroxyl-radicals in the H3AsO3–CO32–/HCO3−–H2O system: A quantum-chemical examination

Abstract Arsenite is a highly toxic compound present in many water sources around the world. The removal of arsenite from water requires its oxidation to arsenate which is much more amenable to treatment using well attested technologies. Prior research has shown that the oxidation of arsenite by hydroxyl radicals is significantly accelerated in the presence of carbonate ions but the intrinsic mechanisms of the acceleration have not yet been established. The main goal of the present work was to examine the oxidation of arsenite in the framework of the density functional theory, to establish a detailed microscopic level mechanism of interactions between arsenite and hydroxyl radicals and to elucidate the nature of the catalytic effect of carbonate ions. Results of this study demonstrate that the [As(OH)2CO3]- complex is the thermodynamically most stable species formed in the system H3AsO3–CO32–/HCO3−–H2O. Interactions of the hydroxyl radical with the [As(OH)2CO3]- complex yield the pre-reaction complex [As(OH)3CO3]-∗ in the reaction of subsequent oxidation of arsenite. The structures of the reactants, products and transition states, as well as pre- and post-reaction complexes corresponding to several possible mechanisms of the first stage of As(III) oxidation to As(IV) intermediate using hydroxyl radicals in the absence and in the presence of [As(OH)2CO3]-, were determined in this study. The data demonstrate that the arsenite-carbonate complexes [As(OH)2CO3]- are characterized by a significantly lower activation energy of the first oxidation stage under the action of a hydroxyl radical (2.8 kcal/mol) compared to that for the free arsenite H3AsO3 (13.6 kcal/mol).