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Fate and behaviour of sulfonamides metabolites in the environment

The worldwide consumption of pharmaceuticals provides their continuous release together with their metabolites in the environment. Pharmaceuticals concentrations are increasing in the environment since many pharmaceuticals are incompletely removed during their passage through wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) which are considered as the main point of their release into the environment. Due to their potential impacts on the aqueous ecosystems and human health there is a rising concern with their occurrence and persistence in the aquatic environment. Also, it is very difficult to predict pharmaceuticals behaviour in the environment since they have different physico- chemical properties. Among different classes of pharmaceuticals, antibiotics are of the biggest concern since they can affect bacteria in the environment and thus disturb natural elemental cycles. Hence, it is necessary to take a closer look at the fate and effects of these compounds in the environment. Sulfonamides represent one of the most commonly used families of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicine. Once in the body of man or animal sulfonamides are metabolized to more polar compounds that are more likely to pass through the WWTPs. As a result pharmaceuticals are found together with their metabolites in different environmental samples. Once pharmaceuticals and their metabolites reach an environmental system, there are multiple routes (biotic and non- biotic) for their possible elimination which are very important for limiting their presence in the environment. Biodegradation is biotic process, while in non-biotic processes sorption, hydrolysis, photolysis are included. Results of all these processes (except sorption) are compounds (degradation products) which can be even more toxic than the parent compounds in some cases. Therefore, it is very important to consider metabolites and their degradation products when studying pharmaceuticals presence in the environment. According to the all mentioned facts, the aim of this study is to investigate fate and behaviour of N4-acetylated metabolites in the aquatic environment.

sulfonamides metabolites; biotic and non-biotic processes

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