Occurrence of Pharmaceuticals in Sin-Dian River: analytical method development and risk assessments

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have recently received significant attentions and become emerging chemicals of concern despite the detected environmental concentrations were generally low (in the ng/L to μg/L range). In order to monitor and later remediate this contamination, this study developed an analytical method using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry ( HPLC-MS/MS) to monitor the occurrence of the five non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen and diclofenac), three estrogens (estrone, 17α-ethylnylestradiol and 17β-estradiol), an anti-hypertensive (propranolol) and a lipid regulator (gemfibrozil) in the Sin-Dian River in Taiwan. Precision and accuracy of the method were evaluated, and the method detection limits (MDLs) were 0.2 ng/L for acetaminophen, propranolol and gemfibrozil, 2 ng/L for naproxen, 5 ng/L for ketoprofen and diclofenac, and 10 ng/L for estrone, 17α-ethylnylestradiol, 17β-estradiol and ibuprofen. The measured concentrations were later compared with the predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) in order to evaluate the validity of the prediction procedures. Environmental risk assessment of the target compounds in surface waters was performed by examining the risk quotient (RQ), and the results indicated the potential risk of estrone, 17α-ethylnylestradiol, 17β-estradiol and propranolol in our aquatic environment.