Review article
https://doi.org/10.15255/KUI.2015.026
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
Martina Periša
; Department of Analytical Chemistry Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology Marulićev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb
Sandra Babić
; Department of Analytical Chemistry Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology Marulićev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb
Abstract
Pharmaceuticals are used for the purpose of preventing or treating diseases in humans and animals, as well as growth promoters in veterinary medicine. The consequence of using pharmaceuticals is their presence in the environment. Once they reach the environment, many processes occur, such as abiotic processes (hydrolysis and photolysis) and biotic processes (biodegradation by bacteria and fungi) or sorption to soil and sediment. These processes lead to the reduction of pharmaceuticals concentration in the environment. Furthermore, the mentioned processes could result in different products that are more or less stable and toxic than the parent compound. Numerous papers have reported the levels of pharmaceuticals in the environment, while little is still known about their behaviour and fate in the environment. Therefore, in this paper, all the mentioned processes are described and discussed.
Keywords
pharmaceuticals in the environment; photolysis; hydrolysis; biodegradation; sorption
Hrčak ID:
165753
URI
Publication date:
26.9.2016.
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