Abstract
BackgroundThe widespread utilization of organic compounds in modern society and their dispersion through wastewater have resulted in extensive contamination of source and drinking waters. The vast majority of these compounds are not regulated in wastewater outfalls or in drinking water while trace amounts of certain compounds can impact aquatic wildlife. Hence it is prudent to monitor these contaminants in water sources until sufficient toxicological data relevant to humans becomes available. A method was developed for the analysis of 36 trace organic contaminants (TOrCs) including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, steroid hormones (androgens, progestins, and glucocorticoids), personal care products and polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs) using a single solid phase extraction (SPE) technique with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The method was applied to a variety of water matrices to demonstrate method performance and reliability.ResultsUHPLC-MS/MS in both positive and negative electrospray ionization (ESI) modes was employed to achieve optimum sensitivity while reducing sample analysis time (<20 min) compared with previously published methods. The detection limits for most compounds was lower than 1.0 picogram on the column while reporting limits in water ranged from 0.1 to 15 ng/L based on the extraction of a 1 L sample and concentration to 1 mL. Recoveries in ultrapure water for most compounds were between 90-110%, while recoveries in surface water and wastewater were in the range of 39-121% and 38-141% respectively. The analytical method was successfully applied to analyze samples across several different water matrices including wastewater, groundwater, surface water and drinking water at different stages of the treatment. Among several compounds detected in wastewater, sucralose and TCPP showed the highest concentrations.ConclusionThe proposed method is sensitive, rapid and robust; hence it can be used to analyze a large variety of trace organic compounds in different water matrixes.
Highlights
The widespread utilization of organic compounds in modern society and their dispersion through wastewater have resulted in extensive contamination of source and drinking waters
This study aims to provide a simple, rapid, sensitive and robust method for the targeted analysis of 36 compounds (Table 1) representative of several Trace organic contaminant (TOrC) classes usually considered by water utilities and regulatory agencies
Chromatography Optimization of chromatographic conditions was achieved by performing experiments with various mixtures of organic solvents and pH modifying buffers
Summary
The widespread utilization of organic compounds in modern society and their dispersion through wastewater have resulted in extensive contamination of source and drinking waters. Glucocorticoid receptor-active compounds (GRs) are known to control inflammation and infections and both natural and synthetic GRs have been used to prevent swelling, asthma and other diseases in humans [14] This increased use combined with the fact that most GRs are poorly adsorbed in the human body and quickly excreted has led to their recent detection in wastewater and surface waters worldwide [14,15,16]. Bioaccumulation properties, potential carcinogenicity and recent reports on toxic effects to animals [22,23] have led to the voluntary reduction in usage of PFOA and the banning of PFOS in Europe [24] These two compounds are progressively being replaced by shorter chain (C < 7) PFC’s [25], of which far less is known with regards to toxicity and occurrence data. This study set out to include six PFCs with C4-C16 carbon chain length
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