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Development of a multi-residue method for the determination of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and some of their metabolites in aqueous environmental matrices by SPE-UHPLC–MS/MS

Publication . Paíga, Paula; Santos, Lúcia; Delerue-Matos, Cristina

The aim of the present work was to develop and validate a multi-residue method for the analysis of 33 human and veterinary pharmaceuticals (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)/analgesics, antibiotics and psychiatric drugs), including some of their metabolites, in several aqueous environmental matrices: drinking water, surface water and wastewaters. The method is based on solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) and it was validated for different aqueous matrices, namely bottled water, tap water, seawater, river water and wastewaters, showing recoveries between 50% and 112% for the majority of the target analytes. The developed analytical methodology allowed method detection limits in the low nanograms per liter level. Method intra- and inter-day precision was under 8% and 11%, respectively, expressed as relative standard deviation. The developed method was applied to the analysis of drinking water (bottled and tap water), surface waters (seawater and river water) and wastewaters (wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) influent and effluent). Due to the selectivity and sensitivity of the optimized method, it was possible to detect pharmaceuticals in all the aqueous environmental matrices considered, including in bottled water at concentrations up to 31ngL-1 (salicylic acid). In general, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs/analgesics was the therapeutic group most frequently detected, with the highest concentrations found in wastewaters (acetaminophen and the metabolite carboxyibuprofen at levels up to 615 and 120μgL-1, respectively).

2017Journal article

Open access

PMo11V@N-CNT electrochemical properties and its application as electrochemical sensor for determination of acetaminophen

Publication . Fernandes, Diana M.; Nunes, Marta; Bachiller-Baeza, Belén; Rodríguez-Ramos, Inmaculada; Guerrero-Ruiz, Antonio; Delerue-Matos, Cristina; Freire, Cristina

A polyoxometalate-nanocarbon composite, PMo11V@N-CNT, was prepared by a simple procedure which consisted of the immobilization of phosphovanadomolybdate (PMo11V) onto N-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNT). The FTIR and XPS characterizations confirmed its successful synthesis. The cyclic voltammograms of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with PMo11V and PMo11V@N-CNT showed four Mo-centred redox processes (MoVI/V) and a vanadium redox process (VV/IV). All were surface-confined redox processes. Additionally, PMo11V@N-CNT/GCE showed good stability and well-resolved redox peaks with high current intensities. The electrocatalytic sensing properties of PMo11V@N-CNT/GCE towards acetaminophen (AC) in the presence of tryptophan (TRP) were evaluated by square wave voltammetry. Under the conditions used, the peak current increased linearly with AC concentration in the presence of TRP, with a linear range from 1.5 × 10−6 to 3.9 × 10−4 mol dm−3 and a detection limit of 1.0 × 10−6 mol dm−3.

2016Journal article

Open access

Application of vermiculite-derived sustainable adsorbents for removal of venlafaxine

Publication . Silva, Andreia; Martinho, Sílvia; Stawiński, Wojciech; Węgrzyn, Agnieszka; Figueiredo, Sónia; Santos, Lúcia H. M. L. M.; Freitas, Olga

Removal of emerging pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, from wastewater is a challenge. Adsorption is a simple and efficient process that can be applied. Clays, which are natural and low-cost materials, have been investigated as adsorbent. In this work, raw vermiculite and its three modified forms (expanded, base, and acid/base treated) were tested for removal of a widely used antidepressant, venlafaxine. Adsorption kinetics followed Elovich's model for raw vermiculite while the pseudo-2nd order model was a better fit in the case of other materials. Equilibrium followed Langmuir's model for the raw and the acid/base-treated vermiculite, while Redlich-Peterson's model fitted better the expanded and the base-treated materials. The adsorption capacity of vermiculite was significantly influenced by the changes in the physical and chemical properties of the materials caused by the treatments. The base-treated, raw, and expanded vermiculites showed lower maximum adsorption capacities (i.e., 6.3 ± 0.5, 5.8 ± 0.7, 3.9 ± 0.2 mg g-1, respectively) than the acid/base-treated material (33 ± 4 mg g-1). The acid/base-treated vermiculite exhibited good properties as a potential adsorbent for tertiary treatment of wastewater in treatment plants, in particular for cationic species as venlafaxine due to facilitation of diffusion of the species to the interlayer gallery upon such treatment. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

2018-04Journal article

Open access