title: Evaluation of UV irradiation for photolytic and oxidative degradation of pharmaceutical compounds in water.
abstract: A medium-pressure (MP) ultraviolet (UV) system was used to investigate the UV photolysis and UV/H(2)O(2) oxidation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) that belong to different therapeutic classes and were found to occur in the aquatic environment. The results obtained in laboratory-grade water (LGW) and surface water (SW) were compared with low-pressure (LP) results reported previously. Overall, MP lamps proved to be more efficient to maximize the bench-scale degradation of the selected group of compounds (ketoprofen, naproxen, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, clofibric acid, and iohexol) by both UV photolysis and UV/H(2)O(2) oxidation. Fundamental direct and indirect photolysis parameters obtained in LGW are reported and used to model the MP-UV photolysis and MP-UV/H(2)O(2) oxidation of the pharmaceuticals in SW, predicting the experimental results very well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Vanessa J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Karl G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.forename: Howard S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Weinberg
mesh_terms: D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical