Determination of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry

Iveta Pugajeva; Janis Rusko; Ingus Perkons; Elsa Lundanes; Vadims Bartkevics

doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2016.11.008

Determination of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater using high performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry

J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2017 Jan 30:133:64-74. doi: 10.1016/j.jpba.2016.11.008. Epub 2016 Nov 10.

Authors

Iveta Pugajeva¹, Janis Rusko², Ingus Perkons², Elsa Lundanes³, Vadims Bartkevics⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR", Lejupes iela 3, Riga LV-1076, Latvia; University of Latvia, Faculty of Chemistry, Jelgavas iela 1, Riga LV-1004, Latvia. Electronic address: iveta.pugajeva@gmail.com.
² University of Latvia, Faculty of Chemistry, Jelgavas iela 1, Riga LV-1004, Latvia.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, Post Box 1033, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment "BIOR", Lejupes iela 3, Riga LV-1076, Latvia; University of Latvia, Faculty of Chemistry, Jelgavas iela 1, Riga LV-1004, Latvia.

PMID: 27856103
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2016.11.008

Abstract

A multi-class method for the determination of 24 emerging pharmaceutical residues has been developed and validated. The method is based on solid-phase extraction of wastewater samples using Strata-X cartridges followed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid quadrupole - Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS). A single-laboratory validation procedure showed satisfactory analytical performance. The analysis of 21 samples collected at the wastewater treatment plant in Riga revealed the occurrence of 20 compounds of different therapeutic classes. The highest concentration was found for the central nervous system stimulator caffeine - up to 12μgL^-1, the analgesic acetaminophen up to 4.2μgL^-1, the antibiotic ciprofloxacin in the concentration range of 250-400ngL^-1, and the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen at 100-325ngL^-1.

Keywords: HPLC-Q-Orbitrap-HRMS; Pharmaceuticals; Wastewater.

MeSH terms

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods
Drug Residues / analysis*
Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods
Wastewater / chemistry*
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical