To follow the twelve "green analytical chemistry" (GAC) principles, it is necessary to continuously develop analytical extraction and determination methodologies to assess the presence of micropollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, in environmental samples. A reduction in the analysis time and solvent quantity, which is one of the GAC principles, has been achieved through a simplified solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the determination of twenty-three pharmaceuticals in liquid environmental samples using N-vinylpyrrolidone-divinylbenzene copolymer (OASIS HLB) cartridges. The optimal SPE conditions were studied. In these optimized conditions, 82.6% of the data have a median recovery above 70% for all compounds in each sample. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were below 14.4% and 22.0% for intra- and inter-day repeatability, respectively. Method detection limits (MDLs) and method quantification limits (MQLs) ranged from 0.011 to 188ngL-1 and from 0.033 to 628ngL-1, respectively. The applicability of the method was evaluated in real samples from natural and conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and results were obtained in concentration ranges from 0.013 to 91.5μgL-1 and from 0.004 to 49.1μgL-1, respectively.

Department of Analytical Chemistry Faculty of Pharmacy Charles University Heyrovského 1203 500 05 Hradec Králové Czechia

Instituto Universitario de Estudios Ambientales y Recursos Naturales Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain

References provided by Crossref.org

Monitoring Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Drinking Water Samples by the LC-MS/MS Method to Estimate Their Potential Health Risk