Simultaneous quantitative monitoring of four indicator
contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in different water
sources of Central India using SPE/LC-(ESI)MS-MS
Environmental occurrence of CECs poses a
great threat to both aquatic life and human health. The
aim of this study was to optimize and validate SPE/
LC-(ESI)MS-MS method for simultaneous quantitative
monitoring of two sub-classes of CECs (pharmaceuticals
and hormones) and to estimate the concentrations of
select CECs in environmental water samples. For all the
tested analytes, recoveries in laboratory reagent water
were greater than 81%. Average percent (relative standard
deviation) RSD of the analytes in recovery, repeatability,
and reproducibility experiments were ≤ 10%.
Determination coefficients (r2) of primidone,
diclofenac, testosterone, and progesterone were estimated
to be 0.9979, 0.9972, 0.9968, and 0.9962, respectively.
Limits of detection (LOD) for primidone,
diclofenac, testosterone, and progesterone were
4.63 ng/L, 5.36 ng/L, 0.55 ng/L, and 0.88 ng/L, respectively.
Limits of quantification (LOQ) for primidone,
diclofenac, testosterone, and progesterone were
14.72 ng/L, 17.06 ng/L, 1.766 ng/L, and 2.813 ng/L,
respectively. Average recoveries in environmental water
and wastewater samples were greater than 74% and
RSD were ≤ 7%. Trace levels (68.33–125.70 ng/L) of
primidone were detected in four environmental water
samples, whereas diclofenac was not detected in any of
the tested sample. Trace levels of progesterone were
observed in two environmental samples (16.64 –
203.73 ng/L), whereas testosterone was detected in
STP inlet sample (178.16 ng/L)