Trends in sulfonamides and their by-products analysis in environmental samples using mass spectrometry techniques

The sulfonamides were the first class of anti-infective agents discovered in therapy for the treatment of infectious diseases, even prior to the discovery of penicillin. Since their discovery, sulfonamides (SAs) are used in the human and veterinary medicine. Through the organic waste or manure utilization or other routes as discharge of effluent wastewaters into surface water, SAs could migrate to soil and water, affecting microbiota, fauna and flora. SAs are a ubiquitous group of drugs, widely detected in environment and specific resistance genes occurrence have been correlated with SAs presence. Thus, the development of robust and reliable method for SAs monitoring is of great concern. Trace and ultra-trace levels of SAs can be detected in several matrices. In order to achieve this level of detection sample preparation strategies combined with advanced mass spectrometry techniques as triple quadrupole, linear ion trap and time of flight mass detection associated with post-run strategies were currently used to SAs monitoring. In this work, a review of the most recent published reports, including the last five years, is presented.