title: Photolysis of beta-blockers in environmental waters.
abstract: Many drugs such as beta-blockers have been shown to occur in aquatic environments. Even if adequate ecotoxicity data are not available, it is of primary importance to get informations about their fate in environmental waters, particularly about their photofate in sewage treatment plant effluents (STP). The main difficulties when studying pharmaceutical photochemical behaviour in environmental waters, are linked to the very low environmentally relevant concentrations (ng L(-1) to microg L(-1)) which can generate problems in terms of analytical sensitivity. Moreover, the complexity of environmental matrices can modify micropollutants degradation kinetics. The photodegradation of beta-blockers has been compared at two concentration levels (10 microg L(-1) and 10 mg L(-1)) and in two different matrices (pure water and STP effluent). It has been shown that the concentration does not influence beta-blockers degradation pathways, thus allowing the identification of degradation compounds using the 10 mg L(-1) solutions. Although environmental waters speed up the degradation process, the same photoproducts were appeared in both matrices. Using LC-MS/MS, hydroxyl radical additions have been identified as an important degradation pathway for especially pindolol, propranolol and timolol, leading to several positional isomers, corresponding to mono-, di- or tri-hydroxylations. Kinetics of appearance/disappearance of these photoproducts have been studied in STP effluents.
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, F-69622, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piram
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salvador
authors.forename: Cécilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Verne
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herbreteau
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Faure
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000737:chemistry*; D004777:Environment; D007700:Kinetics; D010782:Photolysis; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D012722:Sewage; D014867:Water