Abstract

Information on how key environmental conditions such as natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) and water pH alter the possible risks posed by pharmaceuticals (PPCPs) is still scarce. In our previous study, the presence of nat-ural DOM at high pH reduced the toxicity of a mix of waterborne PPCPs to algae. DOM-complexation and pH ef-fect on speciation of the more hydrophobic and neutral compounds of the mix was suggested to be driving this behaviour. However, the study design did not allow the verification of this hypothesis. Here, the DOM-PPCPs in-teraction at different pH was investigated for 6 PPCPs through equilibrium dialysis, under the same conditions of DOM and pH as our previous study. Association with DOM was confirmed for the more hydrophobic PPCPs at high pH. The results suggest the binding was driven by i) the presence of carboxylic groups of PPCPs, ii) high pH shifting the structural configuration of DOM, making it more suited to bind some of the PPCPs. A non-linear change of binding capacity with increasing DOM concentration was also observed among the tested PPCPs. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

Natural dissolved organic matter; Pharmaceuticals and personal care products; Water chemistry; Binding

Published in

Science of the Total Environment
2021, Volume: 784, article number: 147208
Publisher: ELSEVIER

SLU Authors

• Baho, Didier Ludovic

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)

Sustainable Development Goals

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147208

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/112583