Abstract

In this work, the degradation of the pharmaceutical losartan, in simulated fresh urine (which was considered because urine is the main excretion route for this compound) by sonochemistry and UVC/H2O2 individually, was studied. Initially, special attention was paid to the degrading action of the processes. Then, theoretical analyses on Fukui function indices, to determine electron-rich regions on the pharmaceutical susceptible to attacks by the hydroxyl radical, were performed. Afterward, the ability of the processes to mineralize losartan and remove the phyto-toxicity was tested. It was found that in the sonochemical treatment, hydroxyl radicals played the main degrading role. In turn, in UVC/H2O2, both the light and hydroxyl radical eliminated the target contaminant. The sonochemical system showed the lowest interference for the elimination of losartan in the fresh urine. It was established that atoms in the imidazole of the contaminant were the moieties most prone to primary transformations by radicals. This was coincident with the initial degradation products coming from the processes action. Although both processes exhibited low mineralizing ability toward losartan, the sonochemical treatment converted losartan into nonphytotoxic products. This research presents relevant results on the elimination of a representative pharmaceutical in fresh urine by two advanced oxidation processes.

Highlights

  • Losartan was the first commercialized angiotensin II antagonist pharmaceutical

  • Treatment of Fresh Urine Loaded with Losartan

  • The ratio between the degradation rate constants (Rk:kFU /kDW ) was calculated. This Rk parameter is an indicator of both the selectivity of processes toward the antihypertensive degradation in the complex matrix and the inhibitory effect of losartan elimination caused by the fresh urine components

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Summary

Introduction

Losartan was the first commercialized angiotensin II antagonist pharmaceutical. This is an antihypertensive consumed widely around the world [1]. Urine is the main route of excretion of losartan from the human body, ≈35% of the oral dose is expelled without alterations [2], reaching the wastewater systems. Losartan has been determined in ranges of 0.0197–2.76 μg L−1 in wastewater treatment plants influent (WWTP) [3,4]. This indicates that losartan is not effectively removed by the conventional systems in WWTP. The recalcitrance to conventional treatment systems, negative environmental impact, and high excretion of losartan in urine lead

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