Abstract
This study reports electrochemical treatment of different therapeutic classes of pharmaceuticals (caffeine, prazosin, enalapril, carbamazepine, nifedipine, levonorgestrel, and simvastatin) in a mixture. The electrochemical process was investigated using graphite-PVC anode at different applied voltages (3, 5, and 12 V), initial concentrations of studied pharmaceuticals in aqueous solution (5 and 10 mg/L), and concentrations of sodium chloride (1 and 2 g/L). The % removal of pharmaceuticals increased with the applied voltage, and was found higher than 98% after 50 min of electrolysis at 5 V. Energy consumption ranged between 0.760 and 3.300 Wh/mg using 12 V being the highest value compared to 3 and 5 V. The formation of chlorinated by-products from four selected pharmaceuticals, simvastatin (C11H13Cl3O5, and C10H12Cl4O3), prazosin (C13H12Cl3N5O3 and C10H11Cl4N2O2), carbamazepine and caffeine (C15H11N2O2Cl and C8H9N4O2Cl) was identified and elucidated using liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF/MS).
Highlights
Pharmaceuticals are defined as organic compounds used for the treatment of disease
This study aims to determine the effectiveness of an electrochemical process using graphite-PVC as anode for the degradation of different therapeutic classes of pharmaceuticals in one mixture
The defined daily doses (DDD) values are based on Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system by World Health Organization (WHO).[26]
Summary
Pharmaceuticals are defined as organic compounds used for the treatment of disease. They are present in prescription medicines, over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, and veterinary drugs. Caffeine is used to treat migraines and other headache types.[1] Prazosin is one of the antihypertensive compounds It is used for the treatment of hypertension, symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia, and severe congestive heart failure.[1] Enalapril is an example of renin-angiotensin system inhibitor that is used for the treatment of essential or renovascular hypertension and symptomatic congestive heart failure.[1] Carbamazepine is one of the most widely used antiepileptic drugs to treat partial seizures, tonic-clonic seizures, and the pain of neurologic origin such as trigeminal neuralgia.[1] Nifedipine is one of the calcium channel blockers (CCBs) class that is used to treat chronic stable angina, hypertension, and Raynaud’s phenomenon.[1] Levonorgestrel is a progestin or a synthetic form of the naturally occurring female sex hormone, progesterone. Simvastatin, the methylated form of lovastatin, is a lipid-modifying agent that inhibits HMG-CoA reductase
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