Multi-class determination of personal care products and pharmaceuticals in environmental and wastewater samples by ultra-high performance liquid-chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

In this work, a multi-class method for the simultaneous determination of 17 emerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, has been developed.Target analytes were two anti-inflammatories, a lipid regulator agent, two angiotensin II antagonists, two antiepileptic drugs and a diuretic. Among personal care products, four preservatives and five UV filters were included. The method is based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) using Oasis HLB cartridges followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Up to three simultaneous transitions per compound were acquired to assure a reliable identification. A detailed study of the extraction process efficiency and matrix effects was carried out in surface water and effluent wastewater.The use of isotope-labeled internal standards (ILIS) was tested to compensate both potential SPE losses during sample extraction and signal suppression/enhancement observed, especially in EWW. Satisfactory correction in all water samples was only ensured when the own analyte ILIS was used. The use of analogues ILIS was a rather useful approach for correction in the majority of the samples tested when analyte ILIS was unavailable. The method was successfully validated in five different surface water (SW) samples and five effluent wastewater (EWW) samples spiked at two concentration levels (0.05 and 0.5 μg/L in SW; 0.1 and 0.5 μg/L in EWW). The developed method was applied to the analysis of 22 samples (SW and EWW) from the Spanish Mediterranean area and 51 reservoir water samples from Colombia. Personal care products were frequently detected, with the highest concentrations corresponding to benzophenone and benzophenone-4 (samples from Spain), and methylparaben (samples from Colombia). Several pharmaceuticals were detected in the Spanish samples, where irbesartan 3 and valsartan -two Angiotensin II antagonists that are not commonly monitored in the aquatic environment -were the compounds most frequently detected.

Adsorption of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products on Granular Activated Carbon

“…In the work reported here, we studied the kinetics and equilibrium of adsorption onto commercial granular activated carbon of three emergent contaminants: methylparaben (Mp), carbamazepine (Cbz), and sildenafil citrate (Sil); those selected as being representative of such pollutants in wastes within the environment [1] [2]. The objective of this investigation was to provide new information in order to gain a better understanding of the parameters and mechanisms involved in the processes of adsorption and to develop a technique for the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products (PPCPs) from urban wastewaters that would be applicable to full scale.…”

Analytical Methodologies for the Determination of Personal Care Products in Water Samples

“…With regard to traditional SPE, different SPE sorbents have been employed depending on the nature of the target compounds, due to the different polarity when comparing triclosan, parabens or isothiazolinones. Thus, non-polar C18 [79,105,122] is used in few cases for triclosan, while PS-DVB modified sorbents [27,37,50,107] or PVP-DVB-based sorbents [28,33,43,67,110,111,115,128] that promote polar and non-polar interactions are preferred when more polar compounds like parabens, isothiazolinones or other PCPs are determined, trying to cover a wide range of retention capacity. It should be mentioned the paper published by Gorga et al [131] who proposed on-line SPE for the determination of different PCPs including some preservatives.…”

Rapid analysis of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in fish plasma micro-aliquots using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

“…PPCPs enter into the environment through individual human activity and as residues from agriculture, manufacturing, veterinary use, as well as community and hospital use [1]. Numerous studies have reported PPCP residues in waste water treatment plant (WWTP) influents and effluents, as well as surface waters, with concentrations generally ranging between 0.001 and 1 g/L [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].…”