PMID- 37813253
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20231115
LR  - 20231115
IS  - 1879-1026 (Electronic)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 906
DP  - 2024 Jan 1
TI  - Electrochemical degradation of key drugs to treat COVID-19: Experimental analysis 
      of the toxic by-products formation (PCDD/Fs).
PG  - 167660
LID - S0048-9697(23)06287-3 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167660 [doi]
AB  - Drug consumption has grown exponentially in recent decades, particularly during 
      the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to their presence in various water sources. In 
      this way, degradation technologies for pollutants, such as electrochemical 
      oxidation (ELOX), have become crucial to safeguard the quality of natural 
      resources. This study has as its starting point a previous research, which 
      demonstrated the efficacy of ELOX in the removal of COVID-19 related-drugs, such 
      as dexamethasone (DEX), paracetamol (PAR), amoxicillin (AMX), and sertraline 
      (STR), using the electrolytes NaCl and Na(2)SO(4). The present research aims to 
      study the potential risks associated with the generation of toxic by-products, 
      during the ELOX of cited drugs, specifically focusing on the highly chlorinated 
      persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins 
      and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). Dioxins and furans can be formed potentially in 
      electrochemical systems from precursor molecules or non-precursor molecules in 
      chloride medium. First, the degradation of the parent compounds was found to be 
      complete. At this point, a comprehensive investigation was conducted to identify 
      and analyse the by-products formed during the degradation process; precursors of 
      PCDD/Fs, such as chlorophenols or hydroquinones were identified. Additionally, in 
      continuation of the previous study, PCDD/Fs congeners were investigated, 
      revealing elevated concentrations; the highest concentration obtained was for the 
      congener 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF (234.6 pg L(-1) in NaCl) during degradation of the 
      AMX. Finally, an assessment of the toxicity based on TEQ values was conducted, 
      with DEX exhibiting the highest concentration among all compounds: 30.1 pg L(-1) 
      for NaCl medium. Therefore, the formation of minor by-products should not be 
      underestimated, as they can significantly enhance the toxicity of the final 
      sample, so the selection of the appropriate remediation technology, as well as 
      the optimization of experimental operating variables, is determining in the 
      treatment of pharmaceutical-contaminated waters.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
FAU - Schroder, Sophie
AU  - Schroder S
AD  - Departamento de Ingenierias Quimica y Biomolecular, ETSIIyT, Universidad de 
      Cantabria, Avda. de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain.
FAU - Ortiz, Inmaculada
AU  - Ortiz I
AD  - Departamento de Ingenierias Quimica y Biomolecular, ETSIIyT, Universidad de 
      Cantabria, Avda. de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain.
FAU - San-Roman, Ma-Fresnedo
AU  - San-Roman MF
AD  - Departamento de Ingenierias Quimica y Biomolecular, ETSIIyT, Universidad de 
      Cantabria, Avda. de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain. Electronic address: 
      sanromm@unican.es.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20231007
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
RN  - 0 (Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins)
RN  - 0 (Dibenzofurans)
RN  - 451W47IQ8X (Sodium Chloride)
RN  - 0 (Benzofurans)
RN  - 0 (Dioxins)
RN  - 0 (Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated)
SB  - IM
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins/analysis
MH  - Dibenzofurans
MH  - Sodium Chloride
MH  - Pandemics
MH  - *Benzofurans/analysis
MH  - *COVID-19
MH  - *Dioxins/analysis
MH  - Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - (toxicity) TEQ
OT  - By-products and PCDD/Fs congeners
OT  - COVID-19
OT  - Electrochemical oxidation
OT  - Pharmaceutical compounds
COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2023/10/10 00:42
MHDA- 2023/11/15 06:43
CRDT- 2023/10/09 19:22
PHST- 2023/07/21 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/10/05 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/10/05 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/11/15 06:43 [medline]
PHST- 2023/10/10 00:42 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/10/09 19:22 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(23)06287-3 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167660 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 1;906:167660. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167660. 
      Epub 2023 Oct 7.