Determination ofAcetylsalicylic acidand Naproxen in wasteand Tap Water of the Municipal Area of the Sukkur City bySPE-LC-MS/MS

This study is based onan environmental assessment of acetylsalicylic acid and naproxen in wasteand tap water samplesof twenty different locations of municipal area of Sukkur city, Sindh,Pakistan.Both drugs belong to the most frequently used Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs(NSAIDs) group. The specifiedpharmaceuticals were extracted from the wastewater and tap watersamples by Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) method using Waters Oasis hydrophilic lipophilicbalance (HLB) cartridges. Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)technique was applied for the detection and quantification of selected drugs. Negative ElectronSpray Ionization (ESI) was used along with Multi Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode.Pharmaceuticals concentration were found 7.38-827 μg/Land5.47-328.95μg/Lin waste andtapwater samples,respectively.The results obtained are comparable with the data reported inliterature.Human health risk assessment caused byacetylsalicylic acid and naproxen in aquaticmedia was observed byapplyingRisk Quotient (RQ) approach.The calculated RQ values are lowenough (order of 10-3to 10-5) to cause a direct risk for consumers, but their presence in water maypose a danger synergistically.