Recently developed GC/MS and LC/MS methods for determining NSAIDs in water samples

12 pages, 5 tables, 1 figure.-- PMID: 17203255 [PubMed].-- Printed version published Feb 2007.Pharmaceuticals have become major targets in environmental chemistry due to their presence in aquatic environments (following incomplete removal in wastewater treatment or point-source contaminations), threat to drinking water sources and concern about their possible effects to wildlife and humans. Recently several methods have been developed for the determination of drugs and their metabolites in the lower nanogram per litre range, most of them using solid-phase extraction (SPE) or solid-phase microextraction (SPME), derivatisation and finally gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ES/MS/MS). Due to the elevated polarity of non-steroidal anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDs), analytical techniques based on either liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after a previous derivatisation step are essential. The most advanced aspects of current GC-MS, GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS methodologies for NSAID analysis are presented.This work has been supported by the EU through the project NORMAN (Contract No. 018486). Marinella Farré thanks the support from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia through the Juan de la Cierva program.Peer reviewe