Qualitative evaluation of pharmaceuticals and metabolites in hospital effluent: Influence of sample preparation technique and outranking by environmental risk using the ELECTRE method

The presence of pharmaceuticals and metabolites in effluents has become a serious environmental problem, so it is essential to be able to monitor these microcontaminants using qualitative approaches, as well as to assess the potential environmental risks that such compounds may present. Therefore, in this study, suspect screening analysis was performed of 2030 pharmaceuticals and metabolites in hospital effluent samples, applying different sample preparation techniques. Additionally, a pioneering association of (Q)SAR assessment of identified contaminants with the ELECTRE multi-criteria decision analysis technique made it possible to prioritize analytes according to their environmental risk, in order to enable their inclusion in environmental monitoring programs. The results showed that the most advantageous alternative sample preparation technique consisted of cleanup (100 mg of silica/alumina sorbent) + dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (7.5 of aqueous matrix, 325 μL of chloroform (extracting solvent), and 500 μL of acetonitrile as dispersing solvent). This procedure resulted in the identification of 70 pharmaceuticals and metabolites in the composite sample tested. The suspect screening analysis found a total of 105 microcontaminants, 28 of them being “confirmed compounds” and 77 being “suspect compounds”. Of the compounds identified, 87% were pharmaceuticals and 13% were metabolites. The compounds identified were subsequently evaluated using different open access software packages, considering eight endpoints: mobility, persistence, estrogen receptor binding, wastewater treatment plant total removal, biodegradability, PBT (persistent, bioaccumulation and toxic), mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity. The (Q)SAR prediction results were used as input data for the ELECTRE outranking method. Categorization of the identified compounds by ELECTRE resulted in the kernel (priority compounds) and a further 19 groups. ELECTRE sensitivity evaluation indicated that for all the cases, the kernel and the following two groups coincided. The categorization provided by the ELECTRE method constitutes a highly intuitive decision and choice tool, which can assist in the selection of compounds if subsequent quantitative analysis is to be carried out. [Display omitted] •Evaluation of different sample preparation techniques in screening analysis•Qualitative monitoring of 2030 pharmaceuticals and metabolites in hospital effluent•In silico risk assessment of 105 identified