Extraction and determination of pharmaceutical compounds adsorbed into microplastics

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) are pollutants of emerging concern. These small particles are found throughout the world. Its best-known negative effects are that they can confuse marine organisms that would feed on them, or block their airways. In addition, they have been shown to act as vectors of contamination too. In this work, a methodology for the extraction of ten widely used pharmaceutical compounds adsorbed into MPs has been developed. This methodology is based on Ultrasound Assisted Extraction (UAE) followed by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). In the optimal conditions, Limits of Detection (LODs) between 0.25 and 15.8 ng·g-1 were obtained. The optimized method was successfully applied to different MPs samples taken from three beaches of Canary Islands. The results indicated the detection of all target pharmaceuticals at least one time in the analysed samples.