Complementary mass spectrometry and bioassays for evaluating pharmaceutical-transformation products in treatment of drinking water and wastewater

This article summarizes existing studies on complementary mass spectrometry (MS) and bioassays for evaluating treatment processes for drinking water and wastewater [e.g., chlorination, ozonation and advanced oxidation processes (e.g., TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation, photo-Fenton)] in eliminating pharmaceutical residues. The toxicities of transformation products of pharmaceuticals were rarely determined individually, so we also cover research papers dealing with the total toxicity of the treated solution. To illustrate possible strategies when performing qualitative analysis, we discuss studies based on the use of conventional MS methods, and advanced MS methods involving multiple MS (MSn) experiments [i.e. triple quadrupole (QqQ-MS) and ion trap (IT-MS)] and accurate mass measurements [i.e. time-of-flight (ToF-MS) and LTQ Orbitrap-MS].