Simultaneous determination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and oestrogenic hormones in environmental solid samples

Pharmaceuticals are continually being released into the environment. Because of their physical and chemical properties, many of them or their bioactive metabolites can accumulate in sediments, sludge and soils, and induce adverse effects in terrestrial organisms. However, due to the very limited methods permitting the detection of these low-level concentration compounds in such complex matrices, their concentrations in natural solids remain largely unknown. In this paper, an analytical method for the simultaneous determination of thirteen pharmaceuticals (eight non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and five oestrogenic hormones) in solid matrices was developed. The proposed MAE-SPE-GC-MS(SIM) method has been successfully validated providing a linear response over a concentration range of 1(17)-1000(1200) ng/g, depending on the pharmaceuticals, with correlation coefficients above 0.991. The method detection limits were in the range of 0.3-5.7 ng/g, absolute recoveries above 50%, except estrone. The developed method was applied in the analysis of the target compounds in sediment, sludge and soils collected in Poland giving primary data on their concentrations in such matrices in Poland. The obtained results confirmed that the proposed method can be successfully used in the analysis of real environmental solid samples.