A Highly Sensitive MRM-Based Method for Detection and Quantitation of Seven Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Surface Water

The presence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in drinking water has become a growing public concern due to their continuous input and persistence to the environment. They include many drug compounds from medicines and chemical ingredients from daily personal care products such as soaps, toothpastes and cosmetics. Many PPCPs act as endocrine disruptors and thus altering the normal functions of hormones resulting in reproductive defects and health issues. The main sources of PPCPs in surface water are wastewaters from industries and domestic sewages. It has been reported that the levels of PPCPs in sewage treatment plants are in the range of low ng/L to μg/L. Risk assessments of PPCPs are evaluated, and regulations for control and management of PPCPs into surface water have been established in many countries. A LCMS-8060 triple quadrupole system with heated ESI coupled to a Nexera UHPLC was employed at direct determination of seven PPCPs of low ppt level in surface water samples like treated water and reservoir water without pre-concentration. A pentafluorophenyl (PFP) column from Phenomenex and a fast gradient elution program of 8 minutes was used. The repeatability of the quantitation method at the levels nearest to the LOQs of every compounds are determined with triplicate injections (n=3) and the %RSD falls in a range of 1.7% to 7.2%, indicating that the quantitation method is very repeatable and reliable. The LODs of the MRM method achieved are 1.0ng/L for gemfibrozil, 2.2ng/L for naproxen, triclocarban and Ibuprofen, 4.7 to 9.0ng/L for dichlorofenac and triclosan, and 13.5ng/L for ketoprofen.