One of the solutions adopted to palliate water scarcity, especially in hyper-arids area is the recycling of wastewater as a water source for irrigation for crops and other vegetables. However, wastewater, treated or not, is a source of emerging contaminants (ECs). Plants have a tendency to uptake chemicals present in soil. This presentation summarized, three examples of the uptake, metabolism and translocation of ECs into crops, following uptake via the roots and subsequent distribution to other plant tissues. Two of them are based on laboratory studies carried out under controlled conditions to study the fate of three emerging contaminants ibuprofen (IBU), carbamazepine (CBZ) and tris(chloroisopropyl)-phosphate (TClPP) in beans (Vigna ungiculata) or spinach (Spinacea oleracea). In the third example, water, sediment/soil, natural vegetation and crops intended for human consumption were taken from several stations in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The area was under the influence of the south wastewater treatment plant and includes the artificial pond that receives the effluent (through a channel) also used to irrigate surrounding crops. Samples were extracted by solvent extraction and cleaned up using solid-phase extraction (SPE). The identification of ECs and some of their metabolites was carried out using an UHPLC in tandem with a high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) TripleTOF™ 5600 LC/MS/MS System manufactured by AB SCIEX. IBU and CBZ are able to form also a number of metabolites and/or degradation products. Contrarily, at the moment no metabolites of TClPP were identified. The concentrations of CBZ and TClPP in Spinach were higher in leaves than in roots. Presence of IBU was also detected in V. Unguiculata with a higher number of metabolites. The study performed in IBU showed concentration in roots far above those in leaves, in agreement with other studies. In the field experiments, pharmaceuticals carbamazepine, 10,11-epoxycarbamazepine, caffeine, atenolol, gemfibrozil, naproxen and ibuprofen hexoside were identified in few vegetables at concentrations ranging from 35 to 125 ng g−1. Diazinon, atrazine deethyl, malathion, azoxystrobin, bupirimate, acetamiprid, imidacloprid and pirimicarb were found in these vegetables. These examples showed the irreplaceable role that HRMS can play in the identification of complex mixtures of ECs as well as metabolites and/or degradation products

Profiling the uptake, metabolism and translocation of emerging contaminants from water and soil to plants by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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