title: Photolysis of the antidepressants amisulpride and desipramine in wastewaters: Identification of transformation products formed and their fate.
abstract: Attenuation of pharmaceuticals due to natural sunlight is expected to be an important removal pathway in wastewater treatment plants using treatment lagoon systems. In this work, the photolysis of two antidepressants, amisulpride and desipramine, has been investigated in both ultrapure water and wastewater under simulated solar irradiation. Results showed that for amisulpride short irradiation times (t1/2 approximately 3h in pure water and 4h in wastewater) were adequate to degrade the parent compound while a longer exposure period was required for desipramine (t1/2 of approximately 36 h in pure water), although its degradation is enhanced almost three times by indirect photolysis in wastewaters. A significant number of transformation products (TPs) were identified for both pharmaceuticals by high-resolution mass spectrometry. In general, TPs formed are not persistent although acute toxicity tests for desipramine and its TPs showed an increase of the mixture toxicity after solar irradiation, suggesting that some TPs may be more toxic than the parent compound. In wastewaters collected from treatment lagoons, only amisulpride and one of its major TPs, TP 357, were detected. This indicates that long solar exposure times may be necessary for an effective elimination of these substances in lagoon systems or that photolysis may not be the main removal pathway for these particular compounds.
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Land and Water Flagship, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, 5064 Adelaide, SA, Australia; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Lennart Hjelms väg 9, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Meritxell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gros
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Land and Water Flagship, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, 5064 Adelaide, SA, Australia. Electronic address: Mike.Williams@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, C/Emili Grahit, 101 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Llorca
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, C/Emili Grahit, 101 Girona, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Mozaz
authors.affiliation: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, C/Emili Grahit, 101 Girona, Spain; Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Damià
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barceló
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Land and Water Flagship, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, 5064 Adelaide, SA, Australia.
authors.forename: Rai S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kookana
mesh_terms: D000077582:Amisulpride; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003891:Desipramine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010782:Photolysis; D013469:Sulpiride / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000077582:Amisulpride; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D003891:Desipramine; D013469:Sulpiride; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: High-resolution mass spectrometry; Lagoon; Pharmaceuticals; Photolysis; Sewage; Transformation products