The Fenton oxidation mechanism: reactivities of biologically relevant substrates with two oxidizing intermediates differ from those predicted for the hydroxyl radical.

The application of kinetic probes that allow one to determine relative reactivities of biologically relevant substrates with oxidizing intermediates in the Fenton reagent (H2O2 plus Fe2+ in acidic aqueous solution) is described. These results lead to the conclusion that there are two key intermediates with very different reactivity patterns. One (X) is proposed to be an iron complex formed via direct reaction of H2O2 with Fe2+, which reacts with N-nitrosodimethylamine to generate a strong transient absorption at 450 nm. This provides a sensitive spectrophotometric probe of the competitive reactivities toward X of biologically relevant substrates such as nucleic acid components and amino acids. The second intermediate (Y) is probed by its oxidation of the Ru(bpy)2+3 ion (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) to a product with an absorption band centered at 500 nm. In the absence of other substrates, Ru(bpy)2+3 is oxidized at rates independent of the Ru concentration, but the product yield is diminished by competing reactions with substrates that can intercept X. Competition studies demonstrate reactivity patterns for X and Y that are clearly distinct from the pattern predicted for the hydroxyl radical, the intermediate commonly invoked in discussions of Fenton oxidations. These data require reevaluation of the mechanisms by which the Fenton reagent oxidizes biological substrates.