Photosensitized degradation of amoxicillin in natural organic matter isolate solutions

Amoxicillin is a widely used antibiotic and has been detected in natural waters. Its environmental fate is in part determined by hydrolysis, and, direct and indirect photolysis. The hydrolysis rate in distilled water and water to which five different isolated of dissolved organic matter (DOM) was added, were evaluated. In the five different DOM solutions hydrolysis accounted for 5-18% loss of amoxicillin. Direct and indirect photolysis rates were determined using a solar simulator and it appeared that indirect photolysis was the dominant loss mechanism. Direct photolysis, in a solar simulator, accounted for 6-21% loss of amoxicillin in the simulated natural waters. The steady-state concentrations of singlet oxygen, (1)ΔO(2) (∼10(-13) M) and hydroxyl radical, •OH (∼10(-17) M) were obtained in aqueous solutions of five different dissolved organic matter samples using a solar simulator. The bimolecular reaction rate constant of (1)ΔO(2) with amoxicillin was measured in the different solutions, k(ΔO(2)) = 1.44 × 10(4) M(-1) s(-1). The sunlight mediated amoxicillin loss rate with (1)ΔO(2) (∼10(-9) s(-1)), and with •OH (∼10(-7) s(-1)), were also determined for the different samples of DOM. While (1)ΔO(2) only accounted for 0.03-0.08% of the total loss rate, the hydroxyl radical contributed 10-22%. It appears that the direct reaction of singlet and triplet excited state DOM ((3)DOM(∗)) with amoxicillin accounts for 48-74% of the loss of amoxicillin. Furthermore, the pseudo first-order photodegradation rate showed a positive correlation with the sorption of amoxicillin to DOM, which further supported the assumption that excited state DOM∗ plays a key role in the photochemical transformation of amoxicillin in natural waters. This is the first study to report the relative contribution of all five processes to the fate of amoxicillin in aqueous solution.