Editorial In Focus: advanced oxidation processesAdvanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are methods based on the generation of highly reactive species such as hydroxyl radicals that can consequently attack and destroy organic pollutants (and not only) in various environmental samples. Key AOPs include heterogeneous and homogeneous photocatalysis based on near ultraviolet (UV) or solar visible irradiation, electrolysis, ozonation, the Fenton's reagent, ultrasound and wet oxidation, while less conventional (and consequently less studied) but evolving processes include ionizing radiation, microwaves, pulsed plasma and the ferrate reagent. AOPs, traditionally involving inter-disciplinary research with chemistry, materials science and environmental engineering playing a pivotal (but not exclusive) role, have been widely investigated particularly for two reasons: (i) the diversity of technologies involved and (ii) the areas of potential application. Although water and wastewater treatment is by far the most common area for R&D, AOPs have also found applications as diverse as groundwater treatment, soil remediation, municipal wastewater sludge conditioning, water disinfection, production of ultra-pure water and volatile organic compounds treatment and odour control. 1 The first of the ''In Focus'' papers, by Bautista et al., 2 reviews recent work concerning the use of Fenton's reagent for industrial wastewater treatment. Hydrogen peroxide is the source for rapid and effective hydroxyl radical production catalyzed by the presence of iron ions that participate in the Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ redox cycle. The process, whose main advantages include simple and flexible operation at inherent conditions and easy-to-handle chemicals, has been employed for the treatment of several classes of wastewaters from pulp, paper, food and textile industries, pharmaceuticals manufacturing and chemical processing. On the other hand, process drawbacks are the relatively high cost of the oxidant and the fact that iron ions need to be separated and removed at the end of the treatment. The former may partly be resolved by optimizing oxidant usage, and the latter by replacing iron salts with heterogeneous iron-containing catalysts. Process integration is conceptually advantageous to enhance treatment efficiency; in this review, the authors pay particular attention to work where Fenton oxidation is coupled to another process such as coagulation, membrane filtration and biological oxidation.The quality of the environmental samples may be crucial in dictating the efficiency of advanced oxidation. In addition to the pollutants of interest, the water matrix may contain several other species acting as promoters or inhibitors of oxidation reactions. The work by Anglada et al. 3 addresses this very issue, i.e. the effect of the presence of auxiliary chemicals on the photodegradation of acid orange 7, a widely used textile azodye. Compounds like inorganic salts and acetic acid that are commonly employed as dyeing auxiliaries, have an adverse effect on azodye decolouriz...