Analysis of anticancer drugs in sewage water by selective SPE and UPLC-ESI-MS-MS

A trace analytical procedure was developed to assay the anticancer drugs methotrexate, azathioprine, doxorubicin, doxorubicinol, vincristine, ifosfamide, cyclophosphamide, etoposide, and procarbazine in water samples from sewage treatment plants. After concentration and purification using Oasis HLB solid-phase extraction cartridges and Oasis WAX cartridges, the analytes were separated using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with the electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry operating in the positive ion mode. The method showed good precision and accuracy. Recoveries of all analytes were in the range of 45.3-108.9% with relative standard deviations between 2.4-24.5%. The limits of detection for influent and effluent sewage water were in the range of 0.6-7.0 ng/L and 0.5-3.5 ng/L, respectively. It is expected that this method will be applied to investigate the environmental occurrence of anticancer drugs in sewage water.