Palabras clave: agua residual de la industria de pinturas, ion ferroso, peróxido de hidrógeno, ion oxálico RESUMEN Se evaluó la efectividad del proceso foto-Fenton asistido con ferrioxalato para la mineralización de 1000 mg/L de etilenglicol presente en agua destilada y en agua residual proveniente de una planta de producción de pinturas. Se observó que la eficiencia de mineralización del etilenglicol es función de las concentraciones iniciales de ion ferroso, oxalato y peróxido de hidrógeno. Los mayores niveles de degradación del etilenglicol (90 y 85 %, para el agua destilada y el agua residual, respectivamente), se obtuvieron con 10 mg/L de Fe 2+ , 150 mg/L de C 2 O 4 2-y 500 mg/L de H 2 O 2 , después de 3 h de irradiación artificial con lámparas UV a una longitud de onda máxima de 365 nm. La descomposición del etilenglicol produjo cantidades traza (< 136 mg/L) de ácido acético y ácido fórmico, por lo que la disminución en la demanda química de oxígeno debida a este contaminante fue prácticamente total, ya que no se detectó ningún otro producto intermediario. El hierro no actuó directamente de manera catalítica en el sistema.Key words: wastewater from the paint industry, hydrogen peroxide, ferrous ion, oxalic ion ABSTRACTThe effectiveness of the ethylene glycol mineralization using ferrioxalate-induced photo-Fenton was evaluated. The efficiency of 1000 mg/L ethylene degradation was a function of the initial concentrations of ferrous ion, oxalate and hydrogen peroxide. The highest levels of degradation (90 and 85 % for distilled water and wastewater from the paint industry, respectively) were obtained using 10 mg/L of Fe 2+ , 150 mg/L of C 2 O 4 2-and 500 mg/L of H 2 O 2 after 3 hours of UV artificial irradiation (wavelength ~ 365 nm). Ethylene glycol was converted to acetic acid and formic acid in trace amounts (< 136 mg/L) resulting in a decrease of chemical oxygen demand due this contaminant. No other intermediate products were detected.

The oxidising agent effect on R-(+)-Limonene epoxide diastereoselectivity using chiral and achiral Jacobsen’s type catalysts is presented. The type of oxidising agent strongly influences diastereoselectivity. Moderate diastereomeric excesses were achieved in the presence of oxidising agents prepared in situ but in the absence of catalyst (23% for DMD and 29% for O2/pivalaldehyde). Similar diastereomeric excesses were obtained with both chiral and achiral catalyst when the oxidising agents were prepared in situ; 56% and 50% excesses were obtained when using DMD for the chiral and achiral catalyst (respectively) and 38% using O2/pivalaldehyde for both catalysts. Diastereomeric excesses were not observed in the absence of catalyst when using commercial oxidising agents; the chiral catalyst presented larger diastereomeric excesses than its achiral counterpart: 65% and 38% excess using NaOCl for the chiral and achiral catalyst, respectively, and 79% and 39% using m-CPBA for the chiral and achiral catalyst, respectively. This suggests that at least one oxidant species, different from the conventionally accepted (MnV(oxo)), might be involved in this catalytic process. A modification of the traditional catalytic cycle is proposed considering the type of oxidising agent. The catalyst’s chiral centre appears to govern asymmetric induction when commercial oxidising agents are used, whereas the R-(+)-Limonene chiral centre appears to govern asymmetric induction in the presence of   in situ-prepared oxidising agents. On the other hand, the chemical stability of Jacobsen’s catalyst improved when in situ produced DMD was used as oxidising agent.