is one of the most extensively used analgesics and antipyretic drugs to treat mild and moderate pain. P-aminophenol (PAP), the main hydrolytic degradation product of PAC, can be found in environmental water. Recently, CE has been developed for the detection of a wide variety of chemical substances. The purpose of this study is to develop a simple and fast method for the detection and separation of PAC and its main hydrolysis product PAP using CE and microchip electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection. The determination of these compounds using microchip electrophoresis with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection is being reported for the first time. The separation was run for all analytes using a BGE (20 mM β-alanine, pH 11) containing 14% (v/v) methanol. The RSDs obtained for migration time were less than 4%, and RSDs obtained for peak area were less than 7%. The detection limits (S/N = 3) that were achieved ranged from 0.3 to 0.6 mg/L without sample preconcentration. The presented method showed rapid analysis time (less than 1 min), high efficiency and precision, low cost, and a significant decrease in the consumption of reagents. The microchip system has proved to be an excellent analytical technique for fast and reliable environmental applications.

A simple, rapid method using CE and microchip electrophoresis with C4D has been developed for the separation of four nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in the environmental sample. The investigated compounds were ibuprofen (IB), ketoprofen (KET), acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), and diclofenac sodium (DIC). In the present study, we applied for the first time microchip electrophoresis with C4D detection to the separation and detection of ASA, IB, DIC, and KET in the wastewater matrix. Under optimum conditions, the four NSAIDs compounds could be well separated in less than 1 min in a BGE composed of 20 mM His/15 mM Tris, pH 8.6, 2 mM hydroxypropyl‐beta‐cyclodextrin, and 10% methanol (v/v) at a separation voltage of 1000–1200 V. The proposed method showed excellent repeatability, good sensitivity (LODs ranging between 0.156 and 0.6 mg/L), low cost, high sample throughputs, portable instrumentation for mobile deployment, and extremely lower reagent and sample consumption. The developed method was applied to the analysis of pharmaceuticals in wastewater samples with satisfactory recoveries ranging from 62.5% to 118%.

Background: The detection of pharmaceuticals in surface and wastewater is becoming increasingly important for environmental monitoring. The release of pharmaceuticals from industry and human and animal excretion is causing devasting effects to the aqueous ecosystem and to the organisms that live in it. The various pharmaceuticals' complex properties make it challenging to fully remove them from the wastewater prior to discharge. It is crucial that the concentration of the pharmaceuticals is at a safe limit before they are released into the ecosystem for the environment as well as human health. Scientists are currently developing methods to detect pharmaceuticals in surface and wastewater. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) are popular analytical methods. Method: Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is now gaining attention with its potential to detect pharmaceuticals in aqueous environments. CE coupled with the pretreatment procedures such as solid-phase extraction (SPE) provide excellent results for the determination of these contaminants in the water. Aim: The aim of this paper is to review the literature on capillary electrophoresis for the determination of pharmaceuticals in surface and wastewater.