Affiliation:
1. Institute of Analytical and General Chemistry Johannes Kepler University Linz Austria
2. Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability College of Science Engineering and Technology University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus Johannesburg South Africa
Abstract
AbstractWater hyacinth plants (Eichhornia crassipes Mart.) collected from two South African rivers were analyzed in order to investigate their suitability for judging the presence of pharmaceuticals in the water. Thereby, a number of drugs, including amitriptyline, atenolol, citalopram, orphenadrine, lidocaine, telmisartan, and tramadol, could be detected. Particularly for the latter substance, relatively high concentrations (more than 5000 ng g−1 dry plant material) were detected in the water plants. Subsequently, the plant extracts were also screened for drug‐derived transformation products, whereby a series of phase‐one metabolites could be tentatively identified.