Determination of selected nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the aquatic environment

Abstract

The presence of pharmaceutical compounds in the aquatic environment requires the development of an effective monitoring method. The paper presents the developed procedure of determination of pharmaceutical compounds selected from the group of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – ibuprofen and diclofenac. To isolate selected compounds from the tested water the solid phase extraction (SPE) was employed. The quantitative and qualitative analysis was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography HPLC (UV) as well as gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry with electron ionization GC-MS (EI). Described analytical procedures allows to separate and quantificat pharmaceutical mixtures with a satisfactory reproducibility and accuracy. The values of the recovery degree confer the possibility of the complete quantitative control of tested pharmaceuticals in water samples. The described method can be used to control the analytical processes of natural water purification and wastewater treatment from pharmaceutical compounds.