Analysis of Hormone Antagonists in Clinical and Municipal Wastewater by Isotopic Dilution Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry
March 2010
in “
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
”
TLDR Researchers developed a method to detect hormone-blocking drugs in wastewater and found them in Beijing's sewage, suggesting they can survive sewage treatment.
In 2010, researchers developed a method to analyze ten hormone antagonist pharmaceuticals in wastewater, using solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, achieving recoveries from 67.6% to 118.6% and quantification limits between 0.10 and 2.0 ng/L. The study detected eight of these drugs in Beijing's hospital and municipal wastewater samples at concentrations up to 195.0 ng/L, indicating that certain pharmaceuticals can persist through sewage treatment. The findings underscore the importance of monitoring hormone antagonists in the environment due to their potential impact on aquatic organisms. The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
