Abstract
The generally very low concentrations of pharmaceutical species in natural environments make both their identification and quantitation very difficult particularly as they often occur as complex mixtures in a background matrix of uncharacterized natural organic matter. This situation has improved significantly with recent developments in analytical techniques involving preconcentration of analytes, their separation from the background matrix, and their sensitive detection and quantitation using mass spectrometric techniques. This chapter will introduce aspects of the sequential steps in the measurement process of sample collection, storage, extraction and preconcentration, separation by high-performance/pressure chromatography, and then detection and quantitation by mass spectrometry. A summary will be given of a range of concentrations of common pharmaceuticals measured in different natural aquatic environments.
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