Investigation and Quantitation of Some Teratogenic Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics in Environmental Samples

Abstract

This thesis consists of five parts: Part I: General Introduction and literature review: This part consists of two sections: Section A: General Introduction: This part consists of a general introduction on emerging contaminants, their sources, and different types. The different ways by which the selected emerging contaminants reach the environment were described showing their toxic and hazardous effects on all the living organisms. Regulations and intensive legislations to control water quality have been discussed. Finally, Procedures that are needed to be followed in order to overcome and control this hazardous issue have been discussed. Section B: Literature review: This part includes a detailed and thorough review of the selected emerging contaminants, Atenolol, Diclofenac, Carbamazepine and Triclosan. This review compromises the chemical and physical properties, and various analytical methods reported in the literature for their determination. Part II: Spectroscopic methods for the determination of the selected emerging contaminants in drinking tap water samples: This part consists of two sections:

Section A: First derivative synchronous spectrofluorimetric method for the simultaneous determination of the binary mixture of atenolol (ATN) and diclofenac (DCF) in drinking tap water samples: In this section, a green, simple, sensitive, and selective first derivative synchronous spectrofluorimetric method was proposed for the simultaneous determination of two emerging contaminants, ATN and DCF, in drinking tap water samples.Combining both the synchronous fluorescence technique and the derivative technique have greatly contributed to the higher sensitivity and selectivity of the proposed method. Furthermore, to achieve an eco-friendly method, solid phase extraction was carried out as a green extraction step in order to minimize the use of toxic organic solvents. The proposed method was validated according to the ICH guidelines and was found to be within the acceptable ranges. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of the emerging contaminants in drinking tap water samples with high accuracy, precision, and selectivity. The method was statistically compared with the validated reported methods in the literature and no statistically significant difference was found. Section B: Micellar enhanced spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of triclosan (TCS) in drinking tap water samples: In this work, TCS was detected in drinking tap water samples as an emerging contaminant using a micellar enhanced spectrofluorimetric method. The weak fluorescence of TCS was strongly enhanced using the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate as a fluorescent enhancer. Using solid phase extraction as a method of extraction and water as a solvent have greatly contributed to the greenness of the proposed method. Validation of the proposed method was performed according to the ICH guidelines and validation parameters were found to be within the acceptable ranges.Successful determination of the emerging contaminant in drinking tap water samples was achieved with high