Determination Of 13 Trace Pharmaceuticals Of Different Waters In Hangzhou By SPE-UPLC-MS/MS

A method for the simultaneous determination of thirteen target pharmaceuticals residues in water samples using solid phase extraction (SPE) and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was established and successfully applied in the survey of 13 pharmaceuticals in different water samples in Hangzhou.Different pharmaceuticals composition was found in the hospital wastewater samples with the total pharmaceuticals concentration 3083.4-5878.3ng/L. PEN-G and NAP were below method detection limits in all of the hospital wastewater analyzed. TRI, ERY, NOR, OFL and ATEN were the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals, whereas, varied among the hospitals. Total concentration of quinolones including NOR and OFL was about 9000ng/L in all hospital samples, higher than the other pharmaceuticals detected, exceeding the no-effect concentration of total quinolones for surface water organisms predicted by some academics.The removal efficiencies of WWTPs and pharmaceutical compositions varied between the WWTPs. The results from the WWTPs showed that treatment process of WWTPs mainly focused on the removal of conventional pollutants, not taking into account the removal of trace chemicals.Total concentrations of the target drugs residue occurred at the levels ranging from 13.8ng/L to 1189.3ng/L in 18 monitoring points of Qiantang River. A high proportion of antibiotics was measured in all samples, and the most detected antibiotics were fluoroquinolone NOR. Drugs also were found relatively low in the upper reaches of the river, compared with lower reaches. Higher concentrations of drug residues were found in lower reaches, which also proved that the drug residues in surface water were largely affected by human activities.Concentrations of pharmaceuticals were at different levels from ng/L toμg/L in all the samples, with higher concentrations of NOR, especially. The results suggested the widespread source and use of NOR in this region. It needed to be further investigated in subsequent research for this kind of pharmaceuticals.