Is •OH the active Fenton intermediate in the oxidation of ethanol?

A re-examination of the data of Rush and Koppenol (J. Inorg. Biochem. 29 (1987) 199) on the competitive oxidation of C2H5OH and Fe2+ by Fenton's reagent shows that the ratio of the rate constants of the two reactions is 3.2 and not 6.3. The significance of this finding is that it is not possible to identify the active intermediate in the Fenton reaction with the (OH)-O-. radical. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.