WP2 Wastewater Treatment: Analysis, Fate and Removal of Emerging Contaminants
Wednesday, 16 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(CEL-1117-836948) Biodegradation of iopromide in wastewater: identification of metabolites by mass spectrometry.

Celiz, M¹, Perez, S¹, Eichhorn, P¹, Aga, D¹, ¹ The State University of New York, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

ABSTRACT- X-ray contrasting agents are used to improve the visualization of organs and tissues. These substances have been shown to occur in the aquatic environment. The main source of these substances is the hospital wastewater. Patients that take these substances excrete it a day after dosing in the urine or in the faeces. Studies have shown that humans do not metabolize these substances. There is a scarcity on the studies of the fate, environmental behavior, and toxicity of this particular group of substances. The environmental concern lies on its persistence as well as its possible toxicity to the biota in the long run. This study investigates the biodegradation of iopromide using wastewater from the activated sludge and nitrification tanks. The water collected from the sewage treatment plants are spiked with iopromide and sampling is done each day for a couple of days while observing for the degradation of iopromide by reversed phase liquid chromatography/ electrospray ionization mass spectrometry LC/ESI-MS. Structural identification of the metabolites or biodegradates is done using both LC/ESI-MS and liquid chromatography/ electrospray ionization- ion trap mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-IT-MS).

Key words: pharmaceuticals, iopromide, biodegradation, LC/MS