Copper(II) influence on flumequine retention in soils: macroscopic and molecular investigations

The coadsorption of flumequine (fluoroquinolone antibiotic) and copper(II) on a alkaline soil sample (collected from the Champagne-Ardenne region, France) was studied at macroscopic and molecular scales by means of batch experiments and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The retained antibiotic amount onto the soil surface increases (from 2- to >20-fold) with the copper concentration due to the formation of a Cu(II)-flumequine ternary surface complex, which leads to the accumulation of flumequine into soils. Flumequine can be classified at environmentally relevant pH values as a slow-mobile compound in soils and a very slow-mobile compound in the presence of copper, even at relatively low concentrations.