Degradation of indomethacin in river water under stress and non-stress laboratory conditions: degradation products, long-term evolution and adsorption to sediment

Abstract

The pharmaceutical compound indomethacin is not totally removed in wastewater treatment plants, whose effluents flow into aquatic environments; concentrations in the 0.1–100ng/L range are commonly found in surface waters, and its fate is unknown. Here, biological, photochemical and thermal degradation assays were conducted under stress and non-stress conditions to estimate its degradation rate in river water and establish its degradation products over time. The results revealed that direct sunlight irradiation promoted the complete degradation of indomethacin (2μg/L) in less than 6hr, but indomethacin was detected over a period of 4months when water was kept under the natural day–night cycle and the exposure to sunlight was partially limited, as occurs inside a body of water. The biological degradation in water was negligible, while the hydrolysis at pH7.8 was slow. Residues were monitored by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight/mass spectrometry after solid-phase extraction, and six degradation products were found; their structures were proposed based on the molecular formulae and fragmentation observed in high-resolution tandem mass spectra. 4-Chlorobenzoic and 2-acetamido-5-methoxybenzoic acids were the long-term transformation products, persisting for at least 30weeks in water kept under non-stress conditions. Furthermore, the degradation in the presence of sediment was also monitored over time, with some differences being noted. The adsorption coefficients of indomethacin and degradation products on river sediment were calculated; long-term degradation products did not have significant adsorption to sediment.