New Insights of the Fenton Reaction Using Glycerol as the Experimental Model. Effect of O2, Inhibition by Mg(2+), and Oxidation State of Fe.

The use of iron ions as catalyst of oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, known as the Fenton reaction, is important for industry and biological systems. It has been widely studied since its discovery in the 19th century, but important aspects of the reaction as which is the oxidant, the role of oxygen, and the oxidation state of Fe still remain unclear. In this work new mechanistic insights of the oxidation of carbohydrates by the Fenton reaction using glycerol as experimental model are described.