Microbial degradation of pharmaceuticals followed by a simple HPLC-DAD method

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2012

Authors

Ribeiro, AR (Author) Other; Goncalves, VMF (Author) Other; Maia, AS (Author) Other; Carvalho, MF (Author) Other; Castro, PML (Author) Other; M E Tiritan (Author) FFUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Environmental Science and Health - Part A Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering

Vol. 47

Pages: 2151-2158

ISSN: 1093-4529

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 9 Citations

Scopus - 10 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-FKH

DOI: 10.1080/10934529.2012.696422

Abstract (EN): The biodegradation of five pharmaceutical ingredients (PIs) of different therapeutic classes, namely antibiotics (trimethoprim, sulfametoxazole and ciprofloxacin), anti-inflammatory (diclofenac) and anti-epileptic (carbamazepine), by two distinct microbial consortia, was investigated. For the monitoring of biodegradation assays, a simple HPLC-DAD (High Performance Liquid Chromatography - Diode Array Detector) method was developed and validated. The separation of the target pharmaceuticals was performed using an environmental friendly mobile phase in a gradient mode of 0.1% triethylamine (TEA) in water acidified at pH 2.23 with trifluoroacetic acid (TFAA) and ethanol as organic solvent. The method revealed to be selective, linear and precise in the range of 1.0 to 30.0 mu g/mL for all PIs. Biodegradation assays were performed using activated sludge and a bacterial consortium (able to degrade fluoroaromatic compounds) supplemented with the target PIs at a final concentration of 25 mu g/mL. The results revealed that activated sludge removed the target compounds more efficiently than the bacterial consortium.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8