Detection of Pharmaceutically Active Compounds in Tap Water Samples by Direct Injection HPLC/MS-MS: A Danger Signal in Deficiency in Residue Management

Abstract

The growing and decelerated presence of pharmaceutically active compounds that affect networks of tap water is further studied due to the risks to the health public and the environment. Therefore, a direct injection-HPLC/MS-MS method is developed for the simultaneous determination of 16 active pharmaceutical compounds in tap water samples: amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephalexin, cefotaxime, cefuroxime, cipro oxacin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, chloramphenicol, cyproterone, erythromycin, utamide, spironolactone, sulfamethoxazole, tamoxifen, and trimethoprim. The implemented method obtained limits of detection (LOD) of 0.3 -15 µg/L and quanti cation limits (LOQ) from 1.5 to 50 µg/L, recoveries percentages in the range of 70 -125%, time retentions ≤ 2.1 min and allowed the analysis of 22 tap water samples where the highest concentrations corresponding to amoxicillin (147 µg/L) and cipro oxacin (44 µg/L). The ndings in this research could be a precedent for establishing safe levels of these compounds and increasing the standards for quality tap water.