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Analytical Separation Techniques Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Some Chemicals and Their Metabolites in Water

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 15070

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Giuliana Bianco

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Interests: the development of new analytical protocols for the study of biomolecules; modern mass spectrometric (HRMS) techniques; coupled techniques (LC-MS, GC-MS, CE-MS); metabolomics; environmental contaminants; food science; clinical; functional; nutraceutical substances; cultural heritage safeguard
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Laura Scrano

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento delle Culture Europee e del Mediterraneo, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
Interests: degradation and transformation of phytotoxins in water and soil; identification and characterization of plant secondary metabolites; evaluation of secondary metabolites' toxicity; use of phytotoxins as bio-pesticides
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Raffaella Pascale

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Guest Editor

Environmental chemist-Consultant/Scientist, Via Giovanni XXIII, 120 Potenza, Basilicata, Italy
Interests: analysis of contaminants and their metabolites in different food and environmental matrices; validation of the methods, according to EPA, ICH, ISO, APAT, and EUROCHEM guidelines

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Analytical protocols for the analysis of chemicals and their metabolites in water matrices continue to be an active research area closely related to environmental quality and safety. Environmental water contaminants of recent concern are pharmaceuticals, estrogens, and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. In addition, pesticides, microorganisms, and humic substances (HS), in their function as vehicles for contaminants and as precursors for byproducts in water treatment, traditionally play an important role. In this field, mass spectrometry (MS) and its combination with chromatographic techniques has proved to be highly successful in gaining reliable data about the presence and abundance of contaminants and their metabolites in water matrices. This Special Issue in Water is devoted to manuscripts (research, reviews, short communications) describing methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of chemicals in all types of environmental water bodies over time and space using mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem MS (MS/MS). We also anticipate an emphasis on the present status of the application of hyphenated techniques (LC-MS, GC-MS, etc.) for the determination of water contaminants, especially transformation products.

Prof. Dr. Giuliana Bianco
Prof. Dr. Laura Scrano
Dr. Raffaella Pascale
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

POPs
Drugs
Pharmaceuticals
LC-MS, GC-MS
Mass spectrometry
Tandem MS, HRMS, water analysis methods
Monitoring
Environment
Wastewater
Contamination
Validation

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 1360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detection of Eight Cannabinoids and One Tracer in Wastewater and River Water by SPE-UPLC–ESI-MS/MS

by Simone Milan, Filomena Lelario, Laura Scrano, Chiara Ottati, Sabino Aurelio Bufo and Maria de Fátima Alpendurada

Water 2022, 14(4), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14040588 - 15 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5213

Abstract

The consumption of illicit drugs represents a global social and economic problem. Using suitable analytical methods, monitoring, and detection of different illegal drugs residues and their metabolites in wastewater samples can help combat this problem. Our article defines a method to develop, validate, and practically applicate a rapid and robust analytical process for the evaluation of six naturally occurring cannabinoids (CBG, CBD, CBDV, CBN, THC, THCV), two cannabinoids in acidic form (CBDA, THCA-A), and the major cannabis-related human metabolite (THC-COOH). After SPE offline enrichment, we used a UPLC–ESI-MS/MS system, which permitted the determination of several by-products. Studied matrices were samples of different origins: (i) effluent water from a wastewater treatment plant in the Porto urban area; (ii) environmental water from Febros River, the last left-bank tributary of the Douro River. The multi-residue approach was substantiated and successfully employed to analyze the water samples collected in the above locations. The rapid and precise quantification of nine different cannabinoids in different water samples occurred within nine minutes at the ng L⁻¹ level. The appearance of dozens of ng L⁻¹ of some cannabis secondary metabolites, such as CBD, CBDA, CBN, THCA-A, indicates this plant species’ widespread usage among the general population in the considered area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Separation Techniques Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Some Chemicals and Their Metabolites in Water)

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17 pages, 4469 KiB

Open AccessArticle

TiO₂-Powdered Activated Carbon (TiO₂/PAC) for Removal and Photocatalytic Properties of 2-Methylisoborneol (2-MIB) in Water

by Xiao-Pin Guo, Peng Zang, Yong-Mei Li and Dong-Su Bi

Water 2021, 13(12), 1622; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13121622 - 09 Jun 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2857

Abstract

2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) is a common taste and odor compound caused by off-flavor secondary metabolites, which represents one of the greatest challenges for drinking water utilities worldwide. A TiO₂-coated activated carbon (TiO₂/PAC) has been synthesized using the sol-gel method. A new TiO₂/PAC photocatalyst has been successfully employed in photodegradation of 2-MIB under UV light irradiation. In addition, the combined results of XRD, SEM-EDX, FTIR and UV-Vis suggested that the nano-TiO₂ had been successfully loaded on the surface of PAC. Experimental results of 2-MIB removal indicated that the adsorption capacities of PAC for 2-MIB were higher than that of TiO₂/PAC. However, in the natural organic matter (NOM) bearing water, the removal efficiency of 2-MIB by TiO₂/PAC and PAC were 97.8% and 65.4%, respectively, under UV light irradiation. Moreover, it was shown that the presence of NOMs had a distinct effect on the removal of MIB by TiO₂/PAC and PAC. In addition, a simplified equivalent background compound (SEBC) model could not only be used to describe the competitive adsorption of MIB and NOM, but also represent the photocatalytic process. In comparison to other related studies, there are a few novel composite photocatalysts that could efficiently and rapidly remove MIB by the combination of adsorption and photocatalysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Separation Techniques Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Some Chemicals and Their Metabolites in Water)

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11 pages, 3206 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Determination of Volatile Fuel Oxygenates in Water by Gas Chromatography–Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry: Effect of Automated Sample Preparation Techniques

by Kai Zhu, Yucan Liu, Qing Sun, Min Zhao and Lihua Huang

Water 2020, 12(8), 2266; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12082266 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2690

Abstract

Considering the adverse effects of gasoline additives and aromatic compounds on the quality of the water supply and the ecological environment of the water, a methodology, with short chromatographic separation time (22.5 min) and high separation quality, was optimized for the determination of 11 common gasoline additives and aromatic compounds using gas chromatograph coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC–QqQ–MS/MS) system. The extraction procedure of analytes was performed by headspace solid–phase microextraction (HS–SPME) and purge and trap (P&T), respectively. Both of the two extraction methods provided excellent chromatographic resolution in subsequently GC–QqQ–MS/MS detection system, with the coefficients of linear regression of the calibration curves with HS–SPME and P&T pretreatments were 0.9965~0.9998 and 0.9961~0.9999, respectively, n = 7. The limit of detections (LODs) of these selected oxygenate compounds were discovered to be 0.52~32 ng/L in the P&T–GC–QqQ–MS/MS detection system and 0.11~151 ng/L in the HS–SPME–GC–QqQ–MS/MS detection system. For benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX), the HS–SPME–GC–QqQ–MS/MS system provided outstanding detection performance because of the lower LOD obtained. However, for other selected compounds, the P&T–GC–QqQ–MS/MS system offered lower LODs. The proposed extraction–detection procedure is a simple and sensitive analytical approach for the detection of gasoline additives and aromatic compounds in water. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Separation Techniques Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Some Chemicals and Their Metabolites in Water)

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Review

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31 pages, 25474 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE-5) Inhibitors as Emergent Environmental Contaminants: Advanced Remediation and Analytical Methods

by Giuliana Bianco, Luca Foti, Raffaella Pascale, Filomena Lelario, Donatella Coviello, Monica Brienza, Sabino Aurelio Bufo and Laura Scrano

Water 2021, 13(20), 2859; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13202859 - 13 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3198

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals, fundamental in therapy and the prevention of known pathologies, are responsible for environmental pollution. These substances, called “emerging contaminants,” are harmful to human health because they enter the environment in quantities exceeding the natural self-capacity purification of the ecosystems. Furthermore, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) cannot remove these substances, which can undergo chemical/biological transformations in the environment, thus forming by-products, sometimes more toxic than the parent molecules; successively, they move into rivers and could reach the drinking water supplies. All these phenomena represent a severe public health problem. Therefore, the Water Framework Directive by European Union imposed the monitoring of drugs’ levels in aqueous matrices. Every two years, the EU carefully updates the list of potential water pollutants, called the Watch List, including pharmaceuticals, to evaluate their risk on the aquatic environment. The last Commission Implementing Decision (EU 2018/840) comprises several substances of primary concern. In addition, the scientific community is giving particular attention to other pharmaceuticals not yet on the Watch list, whose markets are in growth; particularly, the Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors used for the pharmaceutical treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. This review discusses the presence of PDE-5 inhibitors in environmental systems, their toxic effects, the different kinds of removal, and the analytical methods normally adopted for their detection. In addition, the study helps figure out the best possible strategy to tackle pharmaceutical pollution by using analytical and advanced diagnostic methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Separation Techniques Coupled to Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Some Chemicals and Their Metabolites in Water)

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