A field study on 8 pharmaceuticals and 1 pesticide in Belgium: removal rates in waste water treatment plants and occurrence in surface water.

Only recently, attention has been drawn towards the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment. In recent years many reports have been made on the occurrence of the large, differentiated group of pharmaceuticals in waste water, surface water, ground water and in soil. In this study, we demonstrate the applicability of a previously developed LC-MS/MS method by evaluating in waste water and surface water samples from Belgium the occurrence of 8 pharmaceuticals and 1 pesticide (flubendazole, pipamperone, rabeprazole, domperidone, ketoconazole, itraconazole, cinnarizine, miconazole and propiconazole).

Optimisation and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for folates in rice.

An LC-MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the analysis of six monoglutamate folates in rice. Accurate determination of folates in rice seeds required the optimisation of an extraction procedure encompassing homogenisation, heat treatment, tri-enzyme treatment (alpha-amylase, protease and deconjugase), centrifugation and ultrafiltration. The resulting extract was loaded onto a Polaris C 18-A column, followed by gradient elution and detection by tandem mass spectrometry.

Comparison of matrix effects in HPLC-MS/MS and UPLC-MS/MS analysis of nine basic pharmaceuticals in surface waters.

When developing an LC-MS/MS-method matrix effects are a major issue. The effect of co-eluting compounds arising from the matrix can result in signal enhancement or suppression. During method development much attention should be paid to diminishing matrix effects as much as possible.

Validation of a solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometric method for the determination of nine basic pharmaceuticals in wastewater and surface water samples.

This paper reports the development and validation of a quantitative LC-electrospray (ESI)-MS/MS method for the simultaneous analysis of nine basic pharmaceuticals (flubendazole, pipamperone, cinnarizine, ketoconazole, miconazole, rabeprazole, itraconazole, domperidone and propiconazole) in environmental waters. Sample preparation consisted of solid-phase extraction on a Speedisk phenyl and a NH(2) solid-phase extraction tube for sample clean-up. Chromatography was performed on a pentafluorophenyl column in a total run time of 24min.

Tackling matrix effects during development of a liquid chromatographic-electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometric analysis of nine basic pharmaceuticals in aqueous environmental samples.

When developing an LC-MS/MS-method matrix effects are a major issue. The effect of co-eluting compounds arising from the matrix can result in signal enhancement or suppression. During method development much attention should be paid to diminish matrix effects as much as possible.