Pharmaceutical drugs are prevalent in today’s modern society. It has been known that when taken by users, these drugs are not completely metabolized by the human body, and therefore are excreted into our wastewater, surface water, and possibly drinking water supplies. In addition, a significant amount of expired drugs are simply discarded into the garbage, part of which will eventually find its way to the landfill and thereby cause pollution in our environment. There is a growing public interest in assessing pharmaceutical drug contamination in community water sources. This study will focus on developing a method for assessment of this pharmaceutical contamination in local water samples. Three common pharmaceutical drugs (e.g., ibuprofen and naproxen) will be examined by solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. To aid in the GC-MS separation and detection of these polar molecules, a derivatizing agent, pentafluorobenzyl bromide (PFBBr), and a catalyst, trimethylamine (TEA), will be used. Experimental parameters such as reaction temperature, amount of catalyst, SPE conditions, etc. will be optimized. Ultimately, local water samples in the Housatonic River Valley Region (CT) will be analyzed for the presence and quantity of the selected pharmaceutical drugs.

Determination of pharmaceutical residues in water samples of the Housatonic River Valley Region by solid phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

251st National Meeting (2016)

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