Determination of isoflavones and coumestrol in river water and domestic wastewater sewage treatment plants Original Research Article

Phytoestrogens activate a biological response in vertebrata where they can mime or modulate the action of endogenous estrogens. For this reason they have been subjected to several studies about their physiological effects on humans and many analytical methodologies for their determination in food matrices and physiological fluids have been developed. On the contrary, little information can be found in literature about the presence of isoflavones and coumestrol in the environment, even if it is known that this may have significance. In the present study we investigated the presence of nine selected free and conjugated phytoestrogens in environmental water. A liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) based analytical methodology was developed and employed for detection of target compounds in surface water and wastewater. The methodology uses solid-phase extraction, followed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry using an electrospray (ESI) interface operating in positive ion mode (LC–ESI–MS/MS). The extraction was made with 200 mg, 6 mL OASIS HLB® cartridges. Recoveries for the selected compounds were in the 67–97% range for all the considered analytes. The method was employed for environmental monitoring. Samples of river water and wastewater collected over a 4-month period were analyzed with the developed procedure. Results showed the presence of isoflavones in most of the samples analyzed. Average concentration of target analytes found in wastewater sewage treatment plant influent ranged from 454 to 12 ng/L. In effluent water and river water the analytes were present at lower concentration.