Carbamazepine and its metabolites in wastewater: Analytical pitfalls and occurrence in Germany and Portugal

- Carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine and eight metabolites were identified in wastewater.
- Hydrogen-deuterium exchange was employed for structure elucidation.
- CBZ and five metabolites were quantified in 46 wastewater samples.
- Metabolites showed little to no removal during wastewater treatment.
- Comprehensive literature review of metabolism of CBZ.

The occurrence of carbamazepine (CBZ) and its metabolites in German and Portuguese wastewater was investigated. A total of 46 samples from influent and effluent wastewater were analyzed by liquid-chromatography (LC) tandem mass spectrometry. The five metabolites 10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxy-CBZ (DiOH-CBZ), 10,11-dihydro-10-hydroxy-CBZ (10-OH-CBZ), 10,11-epoxy-10,11-dihydro-CBZ, 2-hydroxy-CBZ and 3-hydroxy-CBZ were very persistent with little to no removal during wastewater treatment. The highest concentrations were found for CBZ, DiOH-CBZ, and 10-OH-CBZ, with up to 5.0, 4.8 and 1.1 μg/L, respectively. Furthermore, the related pharmaceutical oxcarbazepine and the metabolites 9-hydroxymethyl-10-carbamoylacridan, 1-hydroxy-CBZ (1-OH-CBZ) and 4-hydroxy-CBZ (4-OH-CBZ) were detected. Explicit care was taken to achieve a good chromatographic separation of the numerous isomers that were difficult to distinguish by mass spectrometry alone. A phenylether stationary phase provided the best separation. In combination with high resolution mass spectrometry and hydrogen-deuterium exchange, this LC column enabled us to identify 1-OH-CBZ and 4-OH-CBZ in wastewater for the first time.

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