Method development for analysis of pharmaceuticals in environmental samples

Since the last decades the increasing currency of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment and their risk potential for the aquatic life has become an urgent issue. The number of pharmaceuticals detectable in the low μg/L range in the environment is rising each day. Against this background the aim of this project was the development, optimization, validation and comparison of analytical methods for quantification of selected pharmaceuticals in different environmental matrices (water, sediment, suspended particular matter and biota). High sensitive LC-MS-MS methods for determination of extreme polar, polar (see also Boulard et al.) and hormonal pharmaceuticals (see also Weizel et al.) in water samples were developed and validated. Using these methods occurrence and distribution of the selected pharmaceuticals in water with different wastewater content were determined. For analysis of pharmaceuticals in particular matter and biota samples extraction and clean-up procedures were tested, but method development is still in process. Furthermore a monitoring campaign was set up and water samples, suspended particular matter and biota (fish) samples from six different sampling sites were taken.

During the project 2 articles have been published: Boulard et al. (DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2017.12.023) and Weizel at al. (DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b06147).