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(40-05) LC/MS/MS analysis of pharlaceuticals in water samples. van der Ven, Karlijn*,1, Van Dongen, Walter1, Esmans, Eddy1, De Coen, Wim1, 1 University of Antwerp (RUCA), Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerp, Belgium, Antwerp ABSTRACT- Although pharmaceutical compounds have greatly contributed to general welfair, they have systematically escaped to the attention of environmental toxicologists. Due to the high amounts of pharmaceuticals used in human and veterinary medicine and in animal production considerable amounts of drugs can enter the aquatic ecosystem. During the last decade, the occurrence and fate of drugs in the environment has become more and more a subject of public concern. However, due to the lack of analytical methods for their determination in water samples still little is known concerning their environmental concentrations. Using different existing analytical methods, several studies have already identified a variety of drugs in waste-, surface- and drinking water. Reported concentrations in waste water and sewage water treatment plant effluents reach upto the microgram/l range. The information on environmental concentrations is far from complete though because: 1) lower concentrations (ng/l range) are often below the detection limit of currently used analytical methods and 2) protocols for water analysis for a large amount of drugs are not yet available. The monitoring of surface waters for drugs is of great importance because drugs are designed to be biological very active substances. Therefore long term exposure of aquatic organisms to very low concentrations can be expected to have profound effects. In the current study we have developed sensitive analytical LC/MS/MS methods for the quantitative analysis of three neuropharmaceuticals, diazepam, chlorpromazin and mianserin in water samples. The obtained sensitivity allow the detection of the substances in the lower ng/l range without preconcentration. The protocols for the three compounds have been developed with standards and spiked water samples. To evaluate these methods for environmental exposure assessment purposes different effluent samples collected in Flanders (Belgium)were analysed for these drugs. Key words: LC/MS/MS, pharmaceuticals, water samples |
