Electron-rich Functional Groups Research Articles

Design of Environmental-Friendly Carbon-Based Catalysts for Efficient Advanced Oxidation Processes.

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) represent one of the most promising strategies to generate highly reactive species to deal with organic dye-contaminated water. However, developing green and cost-effective catalysts is still a long-term goal for the wide practical application of AOPs. Herein, we demonstrated doping cobalt in porous carbon to efficiently catalyze the oxidation of the typically persistent organic pollutant rhodamine B, via multiple reactive species through the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS). The catalysts were prepared by facile pyrolysis of nanocomposites with a core of cobalt-loaded silica and a shell of phenolic resin (Co-C/SiO2). It showed that the produced 1O2 could effectively attack the electron-rich functional groups in rhodamine B, promoting its molecular chain breakage and accelerating its oxidative degradation reaction with reactive oxygen-containing radicals. The optimized Co-C/SiO2 catalyst exhibits impressive catalytic performance, with a degradation rate of rhodamine B up to 96.7% in 14 min and a reaction rate constant (k) as high as 0.2271 min-1, which suggested promising potential for its practical application.

Facet-dependent peroxymonosulfate activity and mechanism of CuO for degradation of organic pollutants

CuO is currently used as an effective activator for peroxymonosulfate (PMS), which exhibits complex radical, nonradical, or both activation pathways. However, there exists a knowledge gap concerning the relationship between CuO exposed facets and the PMS activation pathway, which should require further investigation. This study employed a simple and facile hydrothermal method to controllably prepare CuO samples with exposed {010} and {001} facets (referred to as CuO-010 and CuO-001, respectively). The main aim was to further study the facet-dependent PMS activation mechanism. The experimental results showed that the CuO-001 exhibited significantly higher activation efficiency than the CuO-010 due to the different surface atomic arrangement. Furthermore, scavenging experiments and EPR analyses revealed that CuO-010 exhibited both radical (SO4•− and •OH) and non-radical (1O2) pathways, synergistically degraded tetracycline (TC) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Conversely, the CuO-001 displayed non-radical (1O2) and Cu(Ⅲ) intermediates, collaborating to oxidize the degradation of TC and 4-NP. More importantly, the generated 1O2 species and Cu(Ⅲ) intermediates exhibited a preference for reacting with amino or phenolic compounds containing electron-rich functional groups. Moreover, the CuO-001 also showed excellent resistance to anion interference, stability, and compatibility of a wide pH range. The outcomes of this study provide new insights into the comprehensiveness facet-dependent activation of PMS and the design of efficient metal oxide catalysts using the facet strategy for effective degradation of amino/phenolic pollutants in wastewater.

Conjugated microporous polytriphenylamine as high-performance anion-capture electrode for hybrid capacitive deionization with ultrahigh areal adsorption capacity

Conducting polymers with good electron conductivity and rich redox functional groups have attracted enormous attention as anode material for capacitive deionization (CDI) towards the relief of global freshwater scarcity. However,...

Tetracycline hydrochloride degradation in polarity inverted microbial fuel cells: Performance, mechanisms and microbiology

Tetracycline antibiotics are widely used in veterinary medicine, human therapy and agriculture, and their presence in natural water raises environmental concerns. In this study, more than 94% of tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) could be rapidly degraded within 48 h in polarity-inverted microbial fuel cells. The electrochemically active bacteria had the best electrochemical performance at 1 mg/L of TCH with the minimum internal resistance of 77.38 Ω. The electron-rich functional groups of TCH were continuously attacked and finally degradated into small molecules in three possible degradation pathways. Microbial community structure analysis showed that Comamonas and Shinella were enriched at the electrode as polarity-inverted bacteria. Genomic analysis showed that both direct and indirect electron transfer participated in the degradation of TCH in polarity-inverted microbial fuel cell (MFC) and the functional genes related to electrical conductivity in polarity-inverted MFC were more enriched on the electrode surface than non-polarity-inverted MFC. This study can facilitate further investigations about the biodegradation of TCH in polarity-inverted microbial fuel cell.

Understanding molecular-level reactions between permanganate/ferrate and dissolved effluent organic matter from municipal secondary effluent

Permanganate (Mn(VII)) and ferrate ((Fe(VI)) oxidations are well-recognized as advanced treatment processes to degrade organic components detected in secondary effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). However, Mn(VII) or Fe(VI) reactions are sensitive to the water matrix components, especially the dissolved effluent organic matter (EfOM) contained in secondary effluent. Here, we found that Mn(VII) or Fe(VI) hardly mineralize EfOM, but do change its molecular-level composition. Tests with representative trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) spiked to EfOM-rich wastewater effluent showed that Mn(VII) and Fe(VI) preferentially oxidize phenolic TrOCs. UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopy analyses suggested that molecular properties associated with optical characteristics of reaction solutions are altered by treatment, including decreases in aromaticity, molecular weight, and electron-donating capacity of EfOM. At the molecular-level, the observed phenomenon is ascribed to preferential oxidation of aromatic structures and electron-rich functional groups (e.g., phenolic structures and hydroxyl groups) within EfOM, as well as the transformation and decomposition of macromolecular sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds (most likely proteins or microbial byproduct-like material). These findings advance the application of Mn(VII) and Fe(VI) for optimization and proper control of EfOM of emerging concern within treatment trains being developed for advanced treatment facilities.

Electrochemiluminescence biosensing of spatially conjugated ester groups triggered by smart bridging between nano-silica and poly (ethylene maleate)

Organic luminescent materials with unique photoelectric properties are as a kind of emerging luminophore at the forefront of research in biological detection on account of their facilely varied functional groups. However, most organic luminophores are aromatic compounds with certain biological toxicity to limit their application. Herein, we envisioned a green organic electrochemiluminescencence (ECL) luminophore without aromatic ring structure but electron-rich functional groups via in-situ growth of poly (ethylene maleate) (PEM) on nano-silica (NS). The experimental and theoretical modelling results indicate that ECL signal of PEM-NSs was enhanced by the spatial conjugation of ester groups (ester clusters), due to the contribution of smart bridging of NS with different sizes. The smaller the NS size is, the more growth of ester groups on the NS surface is, and the closer individual ester groups are linked via “through-space interaction” to form stable ester clusters with smaller energy gaps, thus achieving high ECL performance. For further application, PEM-NS-1 was selected as meaningful ECL luminophore, and integrated with exonuclease III-assisted catalytic hairpin assembly amplification strategy, an efficient platform for biomarkers (microRNA-21) detection was constructed with the detection limit of 2.73 fM (S/N = 3). This work sets the stage for strengthening ECL of electron-rich functional groups, and provides a way of thinking for low-toxicity organic luminophores.

Porous N-doped carbon converted from protein-rich shrub enables record-high removal of p-nitrophenol: superior performance and mechanism

The complete removal of harmful phenolic contaminants from water remains huge challenge because of the lack of cost-effective and powerful adsorbents. Herein, a sustainable nitrogen self-doped biochar (named KBC750N) with large specific surface area (1398.44 m2/g), high adsorption capacity (606.06 mg/g) and removal ratio (99.99%) for p-nitrophenol (PNP) in real waters (Seawater, Yangtze River water, and Yellow River water) was prepared from a naturally abundant protein-rich psammophyte Caragana korshinskii (CK) by a facile one-step pyrolysis process. The in-situ nitrogen-doped biochar shows much better adsorption removal efficiency of 99.99% toward PNP than expensive commercial adsorbents (only 77.52%). The biochar still keeps high adsorption efficiency after reused more than five times. Site energy distribution analysis revealed that the biochar captures PNP mainly through n–π and π–π electron-donor–acceptor interactions among the electron-rich functional groups (N-containing moieties, –COOH, and –OH), graphite carbon, and PNP. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that the nitrogen site in biochar helps to strengthen its adsorption capability to PNP. This work provides a sustainable platform for the development of high-performance, cost-effective materials for efficient elimination of organic pollutants from water.

Self-powered triboelectric sensor with N-doped graphene quantum dots decorated polyaniline layer for non-invasive glucose monitoring in human sweat

A novel non-invasive wearable self-powered triboelectric sensor (TES) for simultaneous physiological monitoring had shed the light on its extraordinary performance, which become a promising choice for detecting glucose concentration from human sweat via non-invasive strategy. For realizing the function of wearable TES, the flexible substrate of conducting polymers commonly served as matrix for not only immobilizing the specific enzyme, but also played as the sensing layer by the coupling effect of triboelectrification/enzymatic reaction. To boost up the reliability and sensitivity of conducting polymer-based TES, in this study, a nanocomposite of N-doped graphene quantum dots decorated polyaniline (NGQDs/PANI) is designed as a triboelectric layer for non-invasive glucose detection. The surface electronegativity of PANI was changed by decorating the NGQDs with electron-rich functional groups for increasing the surface charge, which further facilitating the charge transfer between the PANI and intermedia and then enhancing triboelectric outputs. Upon the enhanced electron transfer and surface charge by NGQDs, NGQDs/PANI/GOx based TES offers greater sensitivity (23.52 mM−1) in glucose detection compared to pristine PANI/GOx one (16.44 mM−1). Notably, this study demonstrates the feasibility of wearable TES on human skin and their reliable and sensitive performance with a self-driving system without any external power source.

Suppressing dendrite growth with a poly(1-aminoanthraquinone) coating in a VS4 nanoflowers@carbon nanotubes composite based long lasting zinc-ion battery

Non-aqueous zinc ion battery (ZIB) with a wide operational voltage window (∼1.8 V) and high Coulombic efficiency is fabricated. A cathode free of structural instability and low electrical conductivity issues as well as an anode free of dendritic growth enabled by a conducting polymer layer are deployed. The polymer, poly(1-aminoanthraquinone) (PAAQ) through electron rich functional groups and a porous microstructure allows uniform diffusion of Zn2+ ions during charging. A homogeneous Zn deposit is formed contrasting strongly with unrestricted dendritic growth in cells with Zn anode. The ZIB cathode is a composite of VS4 nanoflowers and carbon nanotubes functionalized with dioctyl sulfosuccinate (VS4 NFs@CNTs). It outperforms pristine VS4 NFs, due to enhanced electrical conductivity, ease of electron and ion transfer and transport, effective buffering of volume changes and better accessibility of the active V4+/5+ sites. The VS4 NFs@CNTs//PAAQ@Zn cell delivers a capacity of 330 mAh g−1 at 30 mA g−1 and retains 83.3 % (275 mAh g−1) and 80 % at 100 mA g−1 of its initial capacitance after 100 and 500 cycles. This work lays the foundation for developing ZIBs with ultra-long lifespan and high energy density as advanced energy storage systems.

Multivariate Linear Regression Models to Predict Monomer Poisoning Effect in Ethylene/Polar Monomer Copolymerization Catalyzed by Late Transition Metals

This study combined density functional theory (DFT) calculations and multivariate linear regression (MLR) to analyze the monomer poisoning effect in ethylene/polar monomer copolymerization catalyzed by the Brookhart-type catalysts. The calculation results showed that the poisoning effect of polar monomers with relatively electron-deficient functional groups is weaker, such as ethers, and halogens. On the contrary, polar monomers with electron-rich functional groups (carbonyl, carboxyl, and acyl groups) exert a stronger poisoning effect. In addition, three descriptors that significantly affect the poisoning effect have been proposed on the basis of the multiple linear regression model, viz., the chemical shift of the vinyl carbon atom and heteroatom of polar monomer as well as the metal-X distance in the σ-coordination structure. It is expected that these models could guide the development of efficient catalytic copolymerization system in this field.

Corrosion Inhibition Using Harmal Leaf Extract as an Eco-Friendly Corrosion Inhibitor.

Extract of natural plants is one of the most important metallic corrosion inhibitors. They are readily available, nontoxic, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, highly efficient, and renewable. The present project focuses on the corrosion inhibition effects of Peganum Harmala leaf extract. The equivalent circuit with two time constants with film and charge transfer components gave the best fitting of impedance data. Extraction of active species by sonication proved to be an effective new method to extract the inhibitors. High percent inhibition efficacy IE% of 98% for 283.4 ppm solutions was attained using impedance spectroscopy EIS measurements. The values of charge transfer Rct increases while the double layer capacitance Cdl values decrease with increasing Harmal extract concentration. This indicates the formation of protective film. The polarization curves show that the Harmal extract acts as a cathodic-type inhibitor. It is found that the adsorption of Harmal molecules onto the steel surface followed Langmuir isotherm. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR was used to determine the electron-rich functional groups in Harmal extract, which contribute to corrosion inhibition effect. Scanning electron microscopy SEM measurement of a steel surface clearly proves the anticorrosion effect of Harmal leaves.

Nitrogen-Doped Ti2C MXene Quantum Dots as Antioxidants

MXenes, transition metal carbides, and nitrides or carbonitrides can be synthesized as zero-dimensional quantum dots (MQDs), which have great potential for antioxidizing applications due to their ability to react with many strong oxidizers. However, MQDs can be easily oxidized during hydrothermal synthesis, which damages their intrinsic structures and impairs their antioxidant abilities. To address this issue, ethylenediamine (EDA) was used as a precursor to protect Ti2C-MQDs from damage during synthesis, and N was introduced to generate N-doped MQDs (N–Ti2C-QDs). Compared to MQDs without EDA, the N–Ti2C-QDs had a more complete intrinsic structure and exhibited a stronger antioxidant performance, including highly effective scavenging of •OH, excellent protection of dye and rapid reduction of potassium permanganate (KMnO4). In addition, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to study the underlying antioxidation mechanism that follows oxidation. The results revealed that the intrinsic structure, doping with electron-rich functional groups and electron transfer all contribute to the strong antioxidant ability.

Degradation of tetracycline in water by gas–liquid plasma in conjunction with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite

Tetracycline (TC) is an antibiotic mainly used in livestock production and respiratory infection. Traditional methods are not effective in removing TC from solution. In this study, TC was degraded by gas–liquid plasma in the presence of rGO-TiO2 in solution. The rGO-TiO2 was prepared by modified hummers and hydrothermal method. The electrical and optical properties of the gas–liquid discharge plasma were studied and the produced long-lived reactive species were analyzed by spectrophotometer. The degradation efficiency of TC was improved by 41.4% after plasma treatment for 12 min in presence of 30 mg l−1 rGO-TiO2 compared to that with plasma alone. The degradation efficiency increased with increasing discharge power, but as the initial concentration was increased from 20 to 80 mg l−1, the degradation efficiency of TC decreased. The initial pH had no significant effect on the degradation of TC. The intermediate products were determined by UV–vis spectrophotometry and ESI (+)–MS, and the degradation mechanism was analyzed. The reactive species, including O3, ·OH, and H2O2, etc., produced in the plasma/catalyst system attracted electron-rich functional groups (amino group, aromatic ring, and double bond). Therefore, the gas–liquid plasma/catalyst system could be an effective and promising method for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment in future.

Self-Assembly of a Triazolylferrocenyl Dendrimer in Water Yields Nontraditional Intrinsic Green Fluorescent Vesosomes for Nanotheranostic Applications.

The promising field of nanomedicine stimulates a continuous search for multifunctional nanotheranostic systems for imaging and drug delivery. Herein, we demonstrate that application of supramolecular chemistry's concepts in dendritic assemblies can enable the formation of advanced dendrimer-based nanotheranostic devices. A dendrimer bearing 81 triazolylferrocenyl terminal groups adopts a more compact shell-like structure in polar solvents with the ferrocenyl peripheral groups backfolding toward the hydrophobic dendrimer interior, while exposing the more polar triazole moieties as the dendritic shell. Akin to lipids, the compact dendritic structure self-assembles into uniform nanovesicles that in turn self-assemble into larger vesosomes in water. The vesosomes emit green nontraditional intrinsic fluorescence (NTIL), which is an emerging property as there are no classical fluorophores in the dendritic macromolecular structure. This work confirms the hypothesis that the NTIL emission is greatly enhanced by rigidification of the supramolecular assemblies containing heteroatomic subluminophores (HASLs) and by the presence of electron rich functional groups on the periphery of dendrimers. This work is the first one detecting NTIL in ferrocenyl-terminated dendrimers. Moreover, the vesosomes are stable in biological medium, are uptaken by cells, and show cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. Accordingly, the self-organization of these dendrimers into tertiary structures promotes the emergence of new properties enabling the same component, in this case, ferrocenyl group, to function as both antitumoral drug and fluorophore.

ZnO nanoparticles modified with biomaterial GHK-Cu as electron transport layer to fabricate highly efficient inverted polymer solar cells

The interfacial modification with biomaterials is an effective and environmental protection way to improve the efficiency of inverted polymer solar cells (IPSCs) by reducing the defects and interface recombination of ZnO electron transport layer (ETL). In this paper, ZnO surface is successfully modified via Gly-His-Lys-Cu (GHK-Cu), a nontoxic biomaterial, to fabricate novel ZnO&GHK-Cu composite film. The modification of ZnO surface by GHK-Cu makes the Zn-O-Cu bond formed on the surface of ZnO, which provides a channel for the electron transfer from electron-rich functional groups (such as carboxyl, amino and carbonyl) to Zn2+, the electron defects caused by the oxygen vacancies in the ZnO lattice are passivated, which is beneficial to the transfer and extraction of charges in IPSCs. Moreover, the modification of GHK-Cu decreases the chemisorbed oxygen of the surface of ZnO, the height of the Schottky barrier between the ZnO crystal grains is reduced, resulting in an increase in the conductivity of ZnO. The novel ZnO&GHK-Cu composite film has excellent photoelectric properties and IPSCs with new ZnO&GHK-Cu as ETL are fabricated for the first time. As the result, the IPSCs based on PBDB-T:ITIC with ZnO&GHK-Cu as ETL show an optimal power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.93%, increases by 15.6% in comparison with ZnO ETL-based IPSCs with a PCE of 10.32%. Meanwhile, the PCE of IPSCs based on PM6:Y6 increases from 14.66% to 16.46%. More interesting, the physical mechanism of improving the performance of IPSCs by modifying of ZnO surface with biomaterial has been deeply analyzed. The work provides an effective method for modification of ZnO surface, also shows that biomaterial GHK-Cu has application prospect in photovoltaic devices.

A COF-Like N-Rich Conjugated Microporous Polytriphenylamine Cathode with Pseudocapacitive Anion Storage Behavior for High-Energy Aqueous Zinc Dual-Ion Batteries.

Conducting polymers with good electron conductivity and rich redox functional groups are promising cathode candidates for constructing high-energy aqueous zinc batteries. However, the glaring flaw of active-site underutilization impairs their electrochemical performance. Herein, wereport a poriferous polytriphenylamine conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) cathode capable of accommodating Cl- anions in a pseudocapative-dominated manner for energy storage. Its specific 3D, covalent-organic-framework-like conjugated network ensures high accessibility efficacy of N active sites (up to 83.2% at 0.5 A g-1 ) and distinct physicochemical stability (87.6% capacity retention after 1000 cycles) during repeated charging/discharging courses. Such a robust CMP electrode also leads to a zinc dual-ion battery device with a high energy density of 236 W h kg-1 and a maximum power density of 6.8kW kg-1 , substantially surpassing most recently reported organic-based zinc batteries. This study paves the way for the rational design of advanced CMP-based organic cathodes for high-energy devices.

Selective N-Arylation of p-Aminophenylalanine in Unprotected Peptides with Organometallic Palladium Reagents.

The selective N-arylation of p-aminophenylalanine in polypeptides with pre-formed palladium oxidative addition complexes is described. The depressed pKa of the aniline NH2 group enables chemoselective C-N bond formation on peptides containing multiple other aliphatic amino groups at lysines or the N-terminus via Curtin-Hammett control under mild conditions. Using palladium complexes derived from electron-poor aryl halides, p-aminophenylalanine is fully arylated in aqueous buffer in as little as one hour at micromolar concentrations. A complementary protocol using the non-nucleophilic, organic base 1,5-diazabicyclo(4.3.0)non-5-ene (DBN), expands the substrate scope to tolerate electron-rich functional groups provides up to 97 % conversion. These procedures enable the chemoselective conjugation of functionally diverse small molecule pharmaceuticals to p-aminophenylalanine containing derivatives of cell-penetrating peptides.

Integrated structural and chemical analyses for HCl-supported hydrochar and their adsorption mechanisms for aqueous sulfachloropyridazine removal

In this study, various HCl-supported hydrochar made from root powder of long-root Eichhornia crassipes were applied to adsorb aqueous sulfachloropyridazine (SCP). Adsorption capacity (qe μg g−1) was positively correlated with combined severity-CS. With CS increasing, carbonization degree, hydrophobicity, porosity and isoelectric point of hydrochar increased, but content of polar functional groups decreased. Hydrophobic interaction was important for SCP adsorption. A 24 × 36 peak area table was generated from 24 FT-IR absorbance spectra computed by peak detection algorithm. Afterwards, correlation analysis between qe μg g−1 and FT-IR peak area were conducted, indicating that wavenumbers at 555.4, 1227.47, 1374.51, 1604.5, 2901.4/2919.2 and 3514.63 cm−1 were helpful for SCP adsorption. Further, multivariate linear regression analyses showed that aromatic skeleton and phenolic hydroxyl were the two biggest contributors. Electrostatic attraction did not exist during the SCP adsorption process. Under strong acid condition, protonated amino groups in cationic SCP acting as a hydrogen donator interacted with electron-rich functional groups onto hydrochar by Hydrogen interaction. Under weak acid condition, neutral SCP served as an π electron donor to bond with hydrochar by π-π electron donator-acceptor interaction. This work could guide the functional groups modification strategy of hydrochar to make better use of it in water purification field.

Synthesis and application of Au NPs-chitosan nanocomposite in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in vitro and in vivo

In recent days, novel biomolecule stabilized nanocomposites have come into prominence as featured next generation materials. In this article we have green synthesized Au nanoparticles being deposited and stabilized over chitosan (CS) molecules. The electron rich polar functional groups of chitosan have been exploited to cap the Au NPs. The structural and physical features of Au NPs-CS nanocomposite was analyzed with different techniques like Ultraviolet–Visible Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope, Transmission Electron Microscopy, and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy techniques. Recently, noble metal nanoparticles have been used in the treatment of different cancers. This has prompted us to use our nanocomposite in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) both in vitro and in vivo. Initially, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay was performed to study the excellent antioxidant properties of Au NPs-CS nanocomposite. For in vitro cytotoxicity studies, HUVEC normal cell line, 32D-FLT3-ITD and Murine C1498 cancer cell lines were used and the nanocomposite was found of comparable potential as the standard AML drug Daunorubicin. For in vivo studies, 7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) was injected for inducing AML over 50 mice and then the drug as well as the nanocomposite was administered. Subsequently, comparison of different immunological, hematological, biochemical, stereological parameters and S1PR1 and S1PR5 mRNA expressions were ascertained. By quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, S1PR1 and S1PR5 mRNA expression in lymphocytes were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) raised by treating the leukemic mice with the nanocomposite. Also, nanocomposite significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased the weight and volume of liver and spleen, the pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the total white blood cells, blast, neutrophil, monocyte, eosinophil, and basophil counts, increased the anti-inflammatory cytokines and the lymphocyte, platelet and red blood cells parameters, and regulated the biochemical parameters as compared to the untreated mice. An extensive study was done on these biological experiments using the Au NPs-CS nanocomposite and we achieved fascinating results such that it could be used as an alternative prospective chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

A comparison study of levofloxacin degradation by peroxymonosulfate and permanganate: Kinetics, products and effect of quinone group

Permanganate (Mn(VII)) as a selective oxidant has been widely used in water treatment process. Recently, peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was recognized as an emerging selective oxidant, which showed appreciable reactivity toward organic compounds containing electron-rich functional groups. In this study, the oxidation of a model fluoroquinolone antibiotic levofloxacin (LEV) by Mn(VII) and PMS was comparatively investigated. Degradation of LEV by PMS followed second-order kinetics and showed strong pH dependency with apparent second-order rate constants (kapp) of 0.15-26.52 M−1 s−1 at pH 5.0–10.0. Oxidation of LEV by Mn(VII) showed autocatalysis at pH 5.0–7.0, while no autocatalysis was observed at pH 8.0–10.0 (kapp = 2.23–4.16 M−1 s−1). Such unusual oxidation kinetics was attributed to the in-situ formed MnO2 from Mn(VII) consumption. The performance of PMS and Mn(VII) for the degradation of LEV was also examined in real waters. PMS primarily react with the aliphatic N4 amine on the piperazine ring of LEV, and Mn(VII) reacted with both the aliphatic N4 amine and aromatic N1 amine. Both PMS and Mn(VII) could efficiently eliminate the antibiotic activity of LEV. Benzoquinone showed activating effect on both PMS and Mn(VII) oxidation, but their activation mechanisms were totally different.