Imidazoles have numerous applications in pharmacology, chemistry, optics and electronics, making the development of their environmentally-friendly synthetic procedures worthwhile. In this work, the formation of imidazole, imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde, and 2,2-bis-1H-imidazole was investigated in the self-reaction of glyoxal and its cross-reactions with each of these compounds in aqueous solutions of inorganic ammonium salts at pH =7. Such conditions are relevant both as cheap and environmentally-friendly synthetic procedures and for the chemistry of natural environments where NH4(+) is abundant, such as in atmospheric aerosols. These reactions were investigated both by (1)H-NMR and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy at room temperature with the objective to determine the formation pathways of the three imidazoles and the parameters affecting their yields, to identify the optimal conditions for their synthesis. The results show that only the simplest imidazole is produced by the self-reaction of glyoxal and that imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde and 2,2-bis-1H-imidazole are produced by cross-reactions of glyoxal with imidazole and imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde, respectively. The yields of imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde and 2,2-bis-1H-imidazole formed by the cross-reactions were close to unity, but the yield of imidazole formed by the self-reaction of glyoxal, YIm, was small and varied inversely with the initial glyoxal concentration, [G]0: YIm > 10% only for [G]0 < 0.1 M. The latter result was attributed to the kinetic competition between the imidazole-forming condensation pathway and the acetal/oligomer formation pathway of the glyoxal self-reaction and constitutes a bottleneck for the formation of higher imidazoles. Other parameters such as pH and the NH4(+) concentration did not affect the yields. Thus, by maintaining small glyoxal concentrations, high imidazole yields can be achieved in environmentally-friendly aqueous ammonium solutions at neutral pH. Under the same conditions, higher yields are expected expected from substituted carbonyl compounds, regardless of their concentration, as they produce less acetals.

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The photodegradation of the herbicide fenuron (1,1-dimethyl-3-phenylurea) by using a natural iron oxide (NIO), α-Fe2O3, in aqueous solution at acidic pH has been undertaken. The NIO was characterized by the Raman spectroscopy method. The degradation pathways and the formation of degradation products were studied. A high-pressure mercury lamp and sunlight were employed as light source. Fenuron photodegradation using NIO with oxalic acid followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics, the optimal experimental conditions were [oxalic acid]0 = 10(-3) M and [NIO] = 0.1 g L(-1) at pH 3. A UVA/NIO/oxalic acid system led to a low fenuron half-life (60 min). The results were even better when solar light is used (30 min). The variables studied were the doses of iron oxide, of carboxylic acids, the solution pH and the effect of sunlight irradiation. The effects of four carboxylic acids, oxalic, citric, tartaric and malic acids, on the fenuron photodegradation with NIO have been investigated, oxalic acid was the most effective carboxylic acid used at pH 3. A similar trend was observed for the removal of total organic carbon (TOC), 75% of TOC was removed. The analytical study showed many aromatic intermediates, short-chain carboxylic acids and inorganic ion.

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