Quinones are organic molecules that facilitate electron-transfer reactions in terrestrial environments. The reduced forms, hydroquinones, are powerful reductants that can trigger non-enzymatic radical-based decomposition of organic matter and contaminants by simultaneous reduction of iron and oxygen. Iron oxides often occur as coatings on other minerals, thus our study investigated the reactions between the ferric oxyhydroxide (FeO(OH)) surface coatings on gibbsite (Al(OH)3) and 2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-hydroquinone (2,6-DMHQ). The main aim was to investigate the oxidation of 2,6-DMHQ and the generation ∙OH in the presence of O2 at low Fe concentrations in a novel setup that allows local structural characterization. The heterogeneous redox reactions between 2,6-DMHQ and the iron oxide coatings were studied at pH 5.0 as a function of the amount of Fe present on the gibbsite surfaces, including the effect of aging of the iron oxide coatings. The results showed that reactions between 2,6-DMHQ and iron oxide coated gibbsite under ambient conditions can generate substantial amounts of ·OH, comparable with amounts generated on pure ferrihydrite surfaces. The ·OH is the product of two sequential reactions: hydroquinone oxidation by O2 and degradation of the formed H2O2. The calculated rate constant of the former reaction is the same regardless of amount of iron oxide coating suggesting a surface catalytic process where 2,6-DMHQ is oxidized by O2 resulting in formation of H2O2. Subsequently, the observed induction period, the low Fe2+ (aq) concentrations in solution and the dependency of iron oxide coating amount influencing ·OH formation suggest that the pathway for ∙OH is through H2O2 decomposition by the surface sites on the iron oxide coating. Overall, this study shows that co-existence of oxygen, iron oxides and organic reductants, possibly secreted by soil microorganisms, creates favorable conditions for generation of ·OH contributing to decomposition of organic matter and organic pollutants in soil environments.