Abstract Advanced oxidation processes are the most efficient tool to thwart the overaccumulation of harmful organic compounds in the environment. In this direction bioinspired metal complexes may be a viable solution for oxidative degradations in water. However, their synthesis is often elaborated and their scalability consequently low. This study presents alternative easy-to-synthesize bioinspired metal complexes to promote degradations in water. The metals employed were iron and manganese ions, hence cheap and highly accessible ions. The complexes were tested toward Phenol, Estrone, Triclosan, Oxybenzone, Diclofenac, Carbamazepine, Erythromycin, Aspartame, Acesulfame K, Anisole and 2,4-Dinitrotoluene. The reaction favoured electron-rich compounds reaching a removal efficiency of over 90%. The central ion plays a crucial role. Specifically, Mn(II) induces a non-radical pathway while iron ions a predominant radical one ( ⋅ OH is predominant). The iron systems resulted more versatile toward contaminants, while the manganese ones showed a higher turn-over number, hence higher catalytic behaviour.