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Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) are a group of compounds that include prescriptionand over-the-counter drugs, drugs used in hospitals, veterinary drugs, and drugs used for fishhatcheries. A variety of PhACs were reported in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent,surface water, and groundwater as well as in drinking water. Most publications reported alimited number of selected PhACs. The concentration levels of PhACs in water supplies anddrinking water vary, but are typically less than 100 ng/L. Although no known adverse humanhealth effects are associated with the detected PhACs, contamination from PhACs is of greatconcern due to potential long-term health effects.It is extremely difficult to analyze a broad spectrum list of PhACs. The first challenge is thatsample matrices may be relatively complex because most PhACs originate in wastewatertreatment plant (WWTP) effluents and are typically present at trace concentrations. Therefore,analytical methods must be highly specific and sensitive. In this regard, chromatographicseparation and mass spectrometric detection are often used. The second challenge is thatdifferent classes of PhACs may have different properties and stabilities. Acidic, neutral, andbasic PhACs are difficult to analyze together in one method. Also, different sample preservationand preparation approaches are often needed. In addition, analytical methods must be robust andreliable to deal with varied matrices and concentration levels.Highly sensitive and specific liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization/tandem massspectrometry (LC/ESI/MS/MS), coupled with solid-phase extraction (SPE) sample preparationtechniques, was used for the analysis of a wide range of selected PhACs in water. The methodperformance including sensitivity, accuracy, and precision was studied. Includes abstract only.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2007 Number of Pages: 3File Size: 1 file , 73 KB