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]

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Summary

Introduction

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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