Fabric Phase Sorptive Extraction for the Determination of Anthracyclines in Sewage

Sergio Santana-Viera,Zoraida Sosa-Ferrera,María Esther Torres-Padrón,Alejandro Canino-Byreing,Kenneth G Furton,Abuzar Kabir,José Juan Santana-Rodríguez

doi:10.3390/separations9030069

Abstract

Anthracyclines are a group of antineoplastic compounds used to treat acute leukemia and other cancers, and they are excreted after consumption by patients. These chemicals are often found in sewage at very low concentration levels. For this reason, the development of sensitive analytical methodologies capable of determining them at low concentrations is of prime importance. A simple, fast and sensitive analytical method using fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (UHPLC-FD) has been developed and validated for the extraction of anthracyclines from sewage samples. FPSE is a green, cheap, simple, selective and rapid sample preparation technique. The different parameters that affect the performance of the FPSE process, including extraction time, eluting solvent, elution time and pH, were optimized. The developed method showed satisfactory reproducibility, with intraday and interday RSD values lower than 15% for all the compounds and limits of detection between 0.1–0.15 µg·L−1. The unique combination of sample preparation by this micro-extraction technique with fluorescence detector have resulted in the satisfactory extraction of highly polar anthracyclines, without any noticeable matrix effect, a very common shortcoming of exhaustive sample preparation technique such as solid phase extraction (SPE) and mass spectrometry.

Highlights

Since the end of 90s, scientists have warned of the danger that sewage containing antineoplastic compounds can pose adverse effect on human health and well-being and demanded regular monitoring of these chemical entities [1]
Many authors have demonstrated that several antineoplastic compounds do not degrade in classical wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) [7–9], not even after passing through the post-treatment regimens [10] and may generate toxic degradation products [1] that end up in rivers or seas
Methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMOS), trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), acetone, polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF), poly 300, UCON HTF14 and dichloromethane were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich

Summary

Introduction

Since the end of 90s, scientists have warned of the danger that sewage containing antineoplastic compounds can pose adverse effect on human health and well-being and demanded regular monitoring of these chemical entities [1] These pharmaceutical compounds enter into the sewage mainly after patient’s treatment [2–4], and they are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and/or fetotoxic [2,5,6]. Many authors have demonstrated that several antineoplastic compounds do not degrade in classical wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) [7–9], not even after passing through the post-treatment regimens [10] and may generate toxic degradation products [1] that end up in rivers or seas. This group of antineoplastic compounds is mainly used in the therapeutic fight against acute leukaemia, as a combination therapy for lymphoma and for solid tumours [14]

Objectives

Methods

Results