Application of advanced MS techniques to analysis and identification of human and microbial metabolites of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment

This overview reviews current knowledge on identification, presence and distribution of drug metabolites in the environment. We compare the metabolic routes of environmentally relevant pharmaceuticals in the human body to those of biotransformations brought about by mixed consortia of microorganisms in natural and engineered wastewaters and surface waters. We describe the characteristics of modern mass-spectrometric instrumentation coupled to liquid-chromatographic separation techniques and review their application in profiling metabolites. We set out analytical methodologies for quantitative analysis of drugs and their degradates in sewage and surface waters and give results of monitoring obtained from their application.