Abiotic degradation and environmental toxicity of ibuprofen: Roles of mineral particles and solar radiation

Abstract

The growing medical and personal needs of human populations have escalated release of pharmaceuticals and personal care products into our natural environment. This work investigates abiotic degradation pathways of a particular PPCP, ibuprofen, in the presence of a major mineral component of soil (kaolinite clay), as well as the health effects of the primary compound and its degradation products. Results from these studies showed that the rate and extent of ibuprofen degradation is greatly influenced by the presence of clay particles and solar radiation. In the absence of solar radiation, the dominant reaction mechanism was observed to be the adsorption of ibuprofen onto clay surface where surface silanol groups play a key role. In contrast, under solar radiation and in the presence of clay particles, ibuprofen breaks down to several fractions. The decay rates were at least 6-fold higher for irradiated samples compared to those of dark conditions. Toxicity of primary ibuprofen and its secondary residues were tested on three microorganisms: Bacillus megaterium, Pseudoaltermonas atlantica; and algae from the Chlorella genus. The results from the biological assays show that primary PPCP is more toxic than the mixture of secondary products. Overall, however, biological assays carried out using only 4-acetylbenzoic acid, the most abundant secondary product, show a higher toxic effect on algae compared to its parent compound.

The effect of incorporating inorganic materials into quaternized polyacrylic polymer on its mechanical strength and adsorption behaviour for ibuprofen removal

“…After the adsorption of ibuprofen, we found that the peak corresponding to (Fe, Si)-OH/C-O-C had shifted, which was related to the formation of hydrogen bonds between the -OH groups of inorganic materials on the MAP and the -COOH groups of ibuprofen. This finding was consistent with other reports, in which hydrogen bonding was considered the interaction between PPCPs and adsorbents [34][35][36][37][38] . www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Adsorption isotherms.…”

Effect of PHRs and PCPs on Microalgal Growth, Metabolism and Microalgae-Based Bioremediation Processes: A Review

“…IBU, at 71–89 mg/L, inhibited growth of Chlorella vulgaris by 50% (48–96 h) [104], and at ≥0.1 g/L (0.5 mM), caused death of almost 100% Chlorella sp. cells [126]. For Desmodesmus subspicatus, IBU at 92 mg/L caused 50% inhibition in photosynthetic activity [84], and at 0.34 g/L, caused 50% inhibition in growth [127].…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Modified Catalysts for Decomposition of Ibuprofen from Aqueous Solutions

“…Potassium indigo tri-sulfonate (C 16 H 7 K 3 N 2 O 11 S 3 , MW: 616.72 g/mol, CAS number: 67627-18-3) was provided from Sigma-Aldrich (USA), sodium phosphate monobasic (H 2 NaO 4 P, MW: 119.98 g/mol, CAS number: 7558-80-7) was provided from Sigma life science (Germany). Orto-phosphoric acid was used for the determination of soluble ozone in the aqueous samples [33]. Ethanol (C 2 H 6 O, MW: 46.06 g/mol, CAS number: 64-17-5, >96% purity) was obtained from Altia (Finland).…”

“…Nevertheless, the controversial issue of this method was the toxicity of the chlorinated by-products [32]. The abiotic degradation of IBU and toxic impacts of basic ibuprofen and its secondary residues reveals the various grade of toxicity of these pharmaceuticals [33]. Accordingly, it is very urgent to discover a practically applicable method for removing IBU without or with a small amount of disinfectants or hazardous by-products.…”