posted on 2020-03-09, 18:03authored bySamir
M. Ahmad, Ana S. Mestre, Nuno R. Neng, Conchi O. Ania, Ana P. Carvalho, José M. F. Nogueira
Thirteen
carbon materials comprising commercial activated carbons
and lab-made materials (activated
carbons, hydrochars, and low-T and high-T activated hydrochars) were
assayed as sorbent coatings in bar adsorptive microextration (BAμE)
to monitor trace levels of ten common pharmaceutical compounds (PhCs)
in environmental water matrices including surface water, seawater,
tap water, and wastewater. Polar and nonpolar pharmaceuticals were
selected, sulfamethoxazole, triclosan, carbamazepine, diclofenac,
mefenamic acid, 17-α-ethinylestradiol, 17-β-estradiol,
estrone, gemfibrozil, and clofibric acid, as model compounds to cover
distinct therapeutic classes. Despite having a less-developed porosity,
data showed that “in-house” prepared low-T activated
hydrochars, obtained from carbohydrates and an eutectic salt mixture
at low temperature (i.e., 180 °C) and autogenerated pressure,
compete with the best commercial activated carbons for this particular
application. The combination of a micro and mesopore network with
a rich oxygen-based surface chemistry yielding an acidic nature allowed
these low-T activated hydrochars to present the best overall recoveries
(between 20.9 and 82.4%) for the simultaneous determination of the
ten target PhCs with very distinct chemical properties using high
performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD).