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Enantiomeric profiling of chiral illicit drugs in a pan-European study.

  • Castrignanò E Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK. Electronic address: E.Castrignano@bath.ac.uk.
  • Yang Z Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK; Division of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Oakfield Road, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
  • Bade R Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071, Castellón, Spain; School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
  • Baz-Lomba JA Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, 0349, Oslo, Norway.
  • Castiglioni S IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy.
  • Causanilles A KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Chemical Water Quality and Health, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
  • Covaci A Toxicological Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Campus Drie Eiken, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Gracia-Lor E Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071, Castellón, Spain; IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy.
  • Hernandez F Research Institute for Pesticides and Water, University Jaume I, Avda. Sos Baynat s/n, E-12071, Castellón, Spain.
  • Kinyua J Toxicological Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Campus Drie Eiken, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium.
  • McCall AK Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • van Nuijs ALN Toxicological Center, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Campus Drie Eiken, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk-Antwerp, Belgium.
  • Ort C Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • Plósz BG Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet, Building 115, DK-2800M, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
  • Ramin P Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Bygningstorvet, Building 115, DK-2800M, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Process and Systems Engineering Center (PROSYS), Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 229, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
  • Rousis NI IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy.
  • Ryu Y Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, 0349, Oslo, Norway.
  • Thomas KV Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, 0349, Oslo, Norway; Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Science (QAEHS), University of Queensland, 39 Kessels Road, Coopers Plains, QLD, 4108, Australia.
  • de Voogt P KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Chemical Water Quality and Health, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands; IBED-University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Zuccato E IRCCS Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche "Mario Negri", Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy.
  • Kasprzyk-Hordern B Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK. Electronic address: b.kasprzyk-hordern@bath.ac.uk.
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  • 2017-12-08
Published in:
  • Water research. - 2018
Chiral drugs
Enantioselective analysis
Illicit drugs
Wastewater-based epidemiology
Amphetamine
Cities
Europe
Humans
Illicit Drugs
Methamphetamine
Stereoisomerism
Substance Abuse Detection
Substance-Related Disorders
Waste Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical
English The aim of this paper is to present the first study on spatial and temporal variation in the enantiomeric profile of chiral drugs in eight European cities. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) and enantioselective analysis were combined to evaluate trends in illicit drug use in the context of their consumption vs direct disposal as well as their synthetic production routes. Spatial variations in amphetamine loads were observed with higher use in Northern European cities. Enantioselective analysis showed a general enrichment of amphetamine with the R-(-)-enantiomer in wastewater indicating its abuse. High loads of racemic methamphetamine were detected in Oslo (EF = 0.49 ± 0.02). This is in contrast to other European cities where S-(+)-methamphetamine was the predominant enantiomer. This indicates different methods of methamphetamine synthesis and/or trafficking routes in Oslo, compared with the other cities tested. An enrichment of MDMA with the R-(-)-enantiomer was observed in European wastewaters indicating MDMA consumption rather than disposal of unused drug. MDA's chiral signature indicated its enrichment with the S-(+)-enantiomer, which confirms its origin from MDMA metabolism in humans. HMMA was also detected at quantifiable concentrations in wastewater and was found to be a suitable biomarker for MDMA consumption. Mephedrone was only detected in wastewater from the United Kingdom with population-normalised loads up to 47.7 mg 1000 people-1 day-1. The enrichment of mephedrone in the R-(+)-enantiomer in wastewater suggests stereoselective metabolism in humans, hence consumption, rather than direct disposal of the drug. The investigation of drug precursors, such as ephedrine, showed that their presence was reasonably ascribed to their medical use.
Language
  • English
Open access status
green
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/225820
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