Analyses and decreasing patterns of veterinary antianxiety medications in soils

•The present study is the first record for determination of antianxiety drugs in soils.•Ultrasonic-assisted extraction and LC/MS/MS were used for extraction and analysis.•Dissipations of the tested drugs were investigated using batch soil incubation experiments.•Two kinetic models were calculated and validated according to SANCO guideline.•Acepromazine was more adsorptive and degradable, while xylazine was more sustainable and mobile. An ultrasonic-assisted extraction method was developed to detect 16 antianxiety medications in soil samples using liquid chromatography–high resolution mass spectrometry (LC–HRMS), Orbitrap mass spectrometer. The determination method resulted in satisfactory sensitivity, linearity, recovery, repeatability, and within-laboratory reproducibility. Acepromazine, azaperone, and xylazine were incubated in control, amended, and sterilized soils. The amendment with powdered blood meal affected the relatively fast dissipations of acepromazine, azaperone, and xylazine in the soils. Dissipation kinetics of acepromazine were consistent with bi-phasic kinetics (first-order multi compartment) and the other couples were fit to single first-order kinetics. A hydroxylated acepromazine was identified from soil samples using Orbitrap mass spectrometry. According to sorption batch experiments, the adsorption of acepromazine and azaperone was greatly high, whereas that of xylazine was relatively low. Xylazine was persistent in the incubated soils, and acepromazine demonstrated fast initial dissipation; hence, xylazine could have a potential harmful effect on the environment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the dissipation and adsorption–desorption patters of animal pharmaceutical tranquilizers and α, β-blockers.