New Paper: Introduction to Aquatic Redox Chemistry

[PGT]

In this introduction the ACS Symposium Series volume on Aquatic Redox Chemistry, we try to give some definition to the scope of this field, outline its core concepts, and highlight cross-cutting themes in the chapters that make up the remainder of the book. Core concepts are illustrated in three figures that were designed to prototypical: a redox ladder that compares the major categories of redox active species in natural water, an Eh-pH diagram that overlays organic onto inorganic species, and an electron-shuttle diagram that includes both energy and reaction coordinate axes.

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Grundl, T. J., S. P. Haderlein, J. T. Nurmi, and P. G. Tratnyek. 2011. Introduction to aquatic redox chemistry. In: P. G. Tratnyek, T. J. Grundl , and S. B. Haderlein (ed.), Aquatic Redox Chemistry. ACS Symposium Series, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, Vol. 1071, Ch. 1, pp 1-14.

Oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions are among the most important and interesting chemical reactions that occur in aquatic environmental systems, including soils, sediments, aquifers, rivers, lakes, and water treatment systems. Redox reactions are central to major element cycling, to many sorption processes, to trace element mobility and toxicity, to most remediation schemes, and to life itself. Over the past 20 years, a great deal of research has been done in pursuit of process-level understanding aquatic redox chemistry, but the field is only beginning to converge around a unified body of knowledge. This chapter provides a very broad overview of the state of this convergence, including clarification of key terminology, some relatively novel examples of core thermodynamic concepts (involving redox ladders and Eh-pH diagrams), and some historical perspective on the persistent challenges of how to characterize redox intensity and capacity of real, complex, environmental materials. Finally, the chapter attempts to encourage further convergence among the many facets of aquatic redox chemistry by briefly reviewing major themes in this volume and several past volumes that overlap partially with this scope.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/bk-2011-1071.ch001