Rapid, Precise and Affordable Estimation of Venlafaxine and Its Metabolites in Highly Polluted Effluent Waters: Proof-of-Concept for Methodology

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 25; no. 20; p. 4793
• Main Authors: Hussain, Snawar, Ramnarayanan, Chandramouli, Roopashree, Teeka S, Anwer, Md Khalid, Sreeharsha, Nagaraja, Nair, Anroop B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.10.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: antidepressant; Antidepressants; Aquatic environment; Bioaccumulation; Calibration; Colorimetry; Contaminants; Contamination; Drugs; Ecological risk assessment; Effluents; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental risk; environmental samples; Humans; Hydrazones; Long-term effects; Manufacturing; Metabolism; Metabolites; Norepinephrine; Pharmaceuticals; Pollution; Reagents; Risk assessment; Sediment pollution; Selectivity; Serotonin; Soil contamination; Soil pollution; Soil water; spectrophotometry; Surface water; Trace levels; Venlafaxine; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride - chemistry; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride - isolation & purification; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride - toxicity; venlafaxine metabolites; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Waste Water - toxicity; Wastewater treatment; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water Pollutants, Chemical - isolation & purification; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; water pollution; Water Purification - methods; Water treatment; United States > US; India; spectrophotometry; venlafaxine metabolites; venlafaxine; environmental samples; wastewater treatment; antidepressant; water pollution
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules25204793

Widespread presence of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in the environment of industrialized countries is an emerging global concern. Potential contamination of the soil and water by such pharmacologically active substances poses serious ecotoxicological implications. Several studies assessing the long-term ecological risks of pharmaceutical contaminants mainly focus on the risk assessment of the parent drug, while the potential contributions of their metabolites is often neglected. Presence of selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine, an antidepressant drug, and its metabolites is a matter of serious concern for aquatic systems, since they are difficult to remove by traditional wastewater treatment processes. The concentration of VEN present in water is reportedly one of the highest among pharmaceuticals; however, the long-term effects of its metabolites have not yet been systematically studied. Given the consideration to complex and time-consuming effluent treatment, and realizing the importance of levels of venlafaxine and its metabolites, a simple and accurate analytical method for quick determination is needed. We designed a selective colorimetric method by using oxidative coupling of drug molecules with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride (MBTH) reagent, to quantify the presence of venlafaxine and its metabolites in aquatic samples, with special emphasis on effluent. The method was validated for selectivity, specificity and robustness as per the ICH Q2 guidelines to assess its suitability in pharmaceutical samples, as well. Highly sensitive and green economical analytical method was successfully established for estimation of venlafaxine and its metabolites in aquatic samples. The method was quick, as it involved minimum processing steps. The method was accurate and linear in the range of 0.5 to 80 ppm and could successfully detect lowest concentration of 1.3 ppm, thus qualifying its applicability for the desired purpose to check the presence of trace levels of VEN or its metabolites in aquatic samples or in pharmaceutical formulations.