Oxidation of antiepileptic drug oxcarbazepine stimulated by thermally activated persulfate

Abstract

Oxcarbazepine (OXC) is widely used nowadays due to its similar therapeutic effects of carbamazepine (CBZ) but with fewer side effects. The prescribed consumption of OXC has increased significantly in some countries, and its environmental pollutions have become a major concern. This paper firstly reported the degradation of OXC by heat-activated persulfate. Effects of temperature, dosage of persulfate and pH on the oxidation of OXC were examined. OXC degradation followed a pseudo-first-order decay model. The rate of OXC oxidation rose with the increase of persulfate (2.0 mM to 6.0 mM) and pH (5.0 to 9.0). OXC can be oxidised almost completely within 10 min by persulfate (4.0 mM, pH 9.0, 50°C). HO·was the major active free radical, 9-oxo-9, 10-dihydroacridine-4-carbaldehyde and 9, 10-dihydroacridine-9-carbaldehyde were the major intermediates of OXC degradation by heat-activated persulfate. The heat-activated persulfate demonstrating high potential for the degradation of OXC, is a promising technique for its removal.