Abstract
Photoperoxidation (UV/H2O2) was used to degrade three of the worldwide most consumed antidepressant pharmaceuticals—bupropion, escitalopram, and fluoxetine—in ultrapure water, drinking tap water, surface water, and reclaimed water. The study was performed with antidepressants in concentration levels in which these compounds usually occur in the water matrices. Online solid-phase extraction coupled to UHPLC-MS/MS was used to quantify the analytes during degradation studies. The UV/H2O2 process was able to degrade bupropion and fluoxetine in ultrapure water, using 0.042 mmol L−1 of H2O2 and 1.9 kJ of UV-C irradiation. Nevertheless, escitalopram, which had the most recalcitrant character among the studied antidepressants, needed a tenfold more oxidant and UV-C irradiation. The primary metabolites of the antidepressants were identified as the major by-products generated by the UV/H2O2 process, and they persisted in the solution even when the parent compound was degraded. The residual toxicity of the solution was evaluated for two different trophic levels. The UV/H2O2 process reduced the toxicity of the solution to Raphidocelis. subcapitata microalgae after 30 min of reaction. On the other hand, the toxicity of the residual solution increased over the reaction time to the marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri (reaching up to 48.3% of bioluminescence inhibition after 60 min of reaction). Thus, our results evidenced that the toxicity against different trophic levels and the monitoring of the by-products formed are important aspects to be considered regarding the safety of the treated solution and the optimization of the treatment process.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files. The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge CAPES for the scholarships granted to M. Spina and W.A.Venâncio, and CNPq for the scholarship awarded to R. C. Pivetta and C. Rodrigues-Silva (CNPq, #154061/2018-2). The authors also thank the collaboration of SANASA (Sociedade de Abastecimento e Água e Saneamento, Campinas, SP. Brazil). Financial support was provided by Brazilian agencies, such as The São Paulo Research Foundation – FAPESP, BRAZIL (grants #2013/09543-7, #2018/03571-2 and INCTAA-FAPESP #2014/50951-4).
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The financial support was provided by FAPESP, CAPES and CNPq. The detailed funding grant number are highlighted in the Acknowledgements section.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Mylena Spina: method, validation, formal analysis, investigation, visualization, writing - original fraft, and writing - review and editing. Wilson Augusto Lima Venancio: method, validation, formal analysis, investigation, and visualization. Caio Rodrigues-Silva: method, writing - original draft, writing - review and editing, resources, and formal analysis. Rhannanda Copetti Pivetta: analytical method validation. Vinicius Diniz: formal analysis, writing - original draft, and visualization. José Roberto Guimarães: supervision, project administration, and funding acquisition. Susanne Rath: project administration and funding acquisition. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Mylena Spina, Caio Rodrigues-Silva, and Vinicius Diniz, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final and revised manuscript.
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Spina, M., Venâncio, W., Rodrigues-Silva, C. et al. Degradation of antidepressant pharmaceuticals by photoperoxidation in diverse water matrices: a highlight in the evaluation of acute and chronic toxicity. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 24034–24045 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11657-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11657-4