SCREENING OF METABOLITES AND TRANSFORMATION PRODUCTS OF PHARMACEUTICALS AND ILLICIT DRUGS BY UHPLC-QTOF MS IN EFFLUENT WASTEWATER SAMPLES FROM ATHENS

摘要

The presence of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs (PIDs) in the environment is a matter of major concern because of their wide consumption and their potential negative effects on the water quality and living organisms. After consumption, PIDs can be excreted in unchanged form as the parent compound and/or as free or conjugated metabolites. Some of these compounds seem not to be completely removed during wastewater treatments, and might finally arrive to surface and ground waters. This has forced sewage water treatment plants to perform alternative treatment technologies to guarantee water quality. In order to evaluate the hazard in the water cycle, not only removal of the parent compounds and metabolites in the treatment processes must be taken into account, but also the possible formation of transformation/degradation products (TPs). Therefore, detection and identification of TPs in effluent wastewater is of great importance to know the overall contribution of chemicals in the aquatic environment.