Abstract

As a class of emerging contaminants (ECs), Pharmaceuticals (PhACs) have been widely concerned because of their potential threats to the ecosystem and human health. In addition to biotoxicity, antibiotics may also induce drug-resistant bacteria or antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Therefore, the determination of residues in different environmental media and risk assessment is essential. In this study, an instrumental analysis method is developed for 114 PhACs using UHPLC-MS/MS1, which can simultaneously determine 98 antibiotics and 16 other drugs. In addition, two optimized pretreatment methods for surface water and wastewater samples were developed using solid-phase extraction respectively. Considering limits of detection (LODs) and overall average recoveries at two spiking levels, this method can be used for the quantitative determination of 106 PhACs in surface water. For the wastewater sample, the complex matrix effects and the different chemical properties of each PhACs make the pretreatment process should be carried out in two separate groups, and another 106 PhACs can be identified and quantified. This work provides time-and cost-effective determination methods for pharmaceutical residues in environmental aquatic samples.

Reference:

1. Y. Ben, M. Hu, X. Zhang, et al. Water Research, 2020, 175, 115699.