Oxidative degradation of 10 phenolic compounds by manganese oxides in latosol and red soil and the kinetics of redox reaction between manganese oxides in soils and phenolic compounds were studied. The reactivity of phenolic compounds with manganese oxides in soils depended on their nature and structure and increased with decreasing pH. Both reductive dissolution of manganese oxides in soils by phenolic compounds and oxidation of hydroquinone by manganese oxides in soils followed the kinetic equation of the first order reaction. The order of the reaction of reductive dissolution of manganese oxides in soils with respect to [H⁺] was 0.16. Besides oxidation by manganese oxides in soils, hydroquinone was possibly adsorbed by soils and so on, and total reaction rate of hydroquinone was composed of and so on, and total reaction rate of hydroquinone was composed of two terms, i.e.the oxidative rate and other reaction rate.