Understanding the ozonated degradation of sulfadimethoxine, exploration of reaction site, and classification of degradation products.

Ozonation has been demonstrated to be an efficient method of water treatment. In this study, the degradation of 20 mg/L of sulfadimethoxine (SDM) in different water matrices during ozonation was investigated. At pH 7.0, 100% removal of SDM was achieved by ozonation within 10 min. The degradation of SDM was more pronounced at acidic pH than under ambient environmental conditions, and was also dependent on different water matrices. Both direct and indirect oxidation of SDM by ozone were observed, and it was also shown that both ozone molecules and hydroxyl radicals were involved in the SDM degradation process, whereas it was found that the saturated ring of SDM made it O3-recalcitrant. Seven transformation products (TPs) were identified during SDM ozonation, allowing three degradation pathways to be proposed. Additionally, the main reaction sites, including N (7) and C (2) on the aniline ring, and the __S__N__ bond, were confirmed both experimentally and theoretically. The toxicity evolution during the degradation process was investigated, and the results showed no toxic intermediate products obtained during ozonation.