The World Health Organization reported traces of pharmaceuticals have been detected in the water cycle, while the U.S. Geological Survey reported low levels of pharmaceuticals in 80% of the rivers and streams they sampled in 2000. Pharmaceutical contamination of surface water and groundwater is an ongoing problem due in part to the discharge of unused medications, as many people flush drugs down the toilet. This research project aims to raise awareness of pharmaceutical pollution and ultimately reduce the introduction of drugs into the environment.<br/><br/>Our approach is to determine a new pathway that teaches students how to synthesize amides using expired Ibuprofen. This up-cycling of expired Ibuprofen utilizes the active ingredient of over-the-counter tablets to teach students the principles of extraction and organic synthesis. Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (<sup>1</sup>H NMR) spectroscopy was used to characterize the starting material and the product, which was confirmed by Fourier-transfer Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The work is being developed as a pedagogy to engage students in the anthropogenic introduction of ibuprofen in the environment, by showing that expired drugs still contain the active ingredient and a more environmentally-friendly way to dispose of them is needed.

Up-cycling expired ibuprofen

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.