the authors have found that binuclear cuprous compounds, in particular cuprous chloride, have the ability to cause phenols, mercapto compounds, inorganic sulfides, anilines and phenylenediamines to undergo facile aerobic coupling reactions under mild reaction conditions. this means that these substances, which are often found in industrial solutions, may be easily removed from the solutions as insoluble precipitates after they have been subjected to a copper(i)-catalyzed, aerobic coupling reaction kinetic findings suggest several potential applications of the novel coupling-precipitation concept in industrial separation processes; they are: (i) dephenolization of coal-conversion wastewaters, (ii) desulfurization of kraft liquors, (iii) regeneration of spent base solutions used to desulfurize crude oil, (iv) treatment of dye and textile wastewaters and (v) recovery of biochemical products from dilute aqueous solutions. in light of the current interest in commercializing microbial production of biochemical products, the possibility that some of the biochemical products, which are often formed in low concentrations, may be recovered from solutions by a coupling-precipitation process is noteworthy. 4 refs