Development and optimization of the determination of pharmaceuticals in water samples by SPE and HPLC with diode‐array detection

This paper describes the development, optimization, and validation of a method for the determination of five pharmaceuticals from different therapeutic classes (antibiotics, anthelmintics, glucocorticoides) in water samples. Water samples were prepared using SPE and extracts were analyzed by HPLC with diode‐array detection. The efficiency of 11 different SPE cartridges to extract the investigated compounds from water was tested in preliminary experiments. Then, the pH of the water sample, elution solvent, and sorbent mass were optimized. Except for optimization of the SPE procedure, selection of the optimal HPLC column with different stationary phases from different manufacturers has been performed. The developed method was validated using spring water samples spiked with appropriate concentrations of pharmaceuticals. Good linearity was obtained in the range of 2.4–200 μg/L, depending on the pharmaceutical with the correlation coefficients >0.9930 in all cases, except for ciprofloxacin (0.9866). Also, the method has revealed that low LODs (0.7–3.9 μg/L), good precision (intra‐ and interday) with RSD below 17% and recoveries above 98% for all pharmaceuticals. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of production wastewater samples from the pharmaceutical industry.     

Sensitive determination of amide herbicides in environmental water samples by a combination of solid‐phase extraction and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction prior to GC–MS

In this paper, solid‐phase extraction (SPE) in combination with dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) has been developed as a sample pretreatment method with high enrichment factors for the sensitive determination of amide herbicides in water samples. In SPE–DLLME, amide herbicides were adsorbed quantitatively from a large volume of aqueous samples (100 mL) onto a multiwalled carbon nanotube adsorbent (100 mg). After elution of the target compounds from the adsorbent with acetone, the DLLME technique was performed on the resulting solution. Finally, the analytes in the extraction solvent were determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Some important extraction parameters, such as flow rate of sample, breakthrough volume, sample pH, type and volume of the elution solvent, as well as salt addition, were studied and optimized in detail. Under optimum conditions, high enrichment factors ranging from 6593 to 7873 were achieved in less than 10 min. There was linearity over the range of 0.01–10 μg/L with relative standard deviations of 2.6–8.7%. The limits of detection ranged from 0.002 to 0.006 μg/L. The proposed method was used for the analysis of water samples, and satisfactory results were achieved.     

Determination of anti-inflammatory drugs and estrogens in water by HPLC with UV detection

An analytical method based on LC and UV detection has been developed for the determination of anti-inflammatory compounds and estrogens in water samples. The drugs investigated were diclofenac, ketoprofen, ibuprofen, naproxen, clofibric acid, estriol, 17beta-estradiol, estrone and ethynylestradiol. The detection limits were in the range of 6-74 microg/L and 0.041 -0.16 mg/L for acidic pharmaceuticals and estrogens, respectively, using narrow-bore C18 analytical column. Analyte enrichment from water samples was achieved by SPE procedure using polymeric Strata-X cartridges. Average recoveries obtained from 2.5 L of surface water sample were in the range of 77-98%.     

Selective trace enrichment of acidic pharmaceuticals in real water and sediment samples based on solid-phase extraction using multi-templates molecularly imprinted polymers

A novel multi-templates molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP), using acidic pharmaceuticals mixture (ibuprofen (IBP), naproxen (NPX), ketoprofen (KEP), diclofenac (DFC), and clofibric acid (CA)) as the template, was prepared as solid-phase extraction (SPE) material for the quantitative enrichment of acidic pharmaceuticals in environmental samples and off-line coupled with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Washing solvent was optimized in terms of kind and volume for removing the matrix constituents nonspecifically adsorbed on the MIP. When 1 L of water sample spiked at 1 μg/L was loaded onto the cartridge, the binding capacity of the MIP cartridge were 48.7 μg/g for KEP, 60.7 μg/g for NPX, 52 μg/g for CA, 61.3 μg/g for DFC and 60.7 μg/g for IBP, respectively, which are higher than those of the commercial single template MIP in organic medium (e.g. toluene) reported in the literature. Recoveries of the five acidic pharmaceuticals extracted from 1 L of real water samples such as lake water and wastewater spiked at 1 μg/L were more than 95%. The recoveries of acidic pharmaceuticals extracted from 10-g sediment sample spiked at the 10 ng/g level were in the range of 77.4–90.6%. To demonstrate the potential of the MIP obtained, a comparison with commercial C18 SPE cartridge was performed. Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) cartridge showed higher recoveries than commercial C18 SPE cartridge for acidic pharmaceuticals. These results showed the suitability of the MISPE method for the selective extraction of a group of structurally related compounds such as acidic pharmaceuticals.     

Application of multiwalled carbon nanotubes as sorbents for the extraction of mycotoxins in water samples and infant milk formula prior to high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis

In this work, a simple and environmental friendly methodology has been developed for the analysis of a group of six mycotoxins with estrogenic activity produced by Fusarium species (i.e. zearalanone, zearalenone, α‐zearalanol, β‐zearalanol, α‐zearalenol, and β‐zearalenol), using microdispersive SPE (μ‐dSPE) with multiwalled carbon nanotubes as sorbent. Separation, determination, and quantification were achieved by HPLC coupled to ion trap MS with an ESI interface. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of µ‐dSPE such as pH of the sample, amount of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, and type and volume of elution solvent, were studied and optimized. The methodology was validated for mineral, pond, and wastewater as well as for powdered infant milk using 17β‐estradiol‐2,4,16,16,17‐d₅ (17β‐E₂‐D₅) as internal standard, obtaining recoveries ranging from 85 to 120% for the three types of water samples and from 77 to 115% for powdered infant milk. RSD values were lower than 10%. The LOQs achieved were in the range 0.05–2.90 μg/L for water samples and 2.02–31.9 μg/L for powdered infant milk samples.     

Determination of trace organophosphorus pesticides in water samples with TiO2 nanotubes cartridge prior to GC‐flame photometric detection

This article described a new method for the sensitive determination of organophosphorus pesticides in water samples using SPE in combination with GC‐flame photometric detection. In the procedure of method development, TiO₂ nanotubes were used as SPE adsorbents for the enrichment of organophosphorus pesticides from water samples. Several factors, such as eluent and its volume, sample pH, sample volume, sample flow rate, and concentration of humic acid, were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed method had good linear ranges as 0.1–40 μg/L for each of them, LOD of 0.11, 0.014, and 0.0025 μg/L, and LOQs of 0.37, 0.047, and 0.0083 μg/L for chlorpyrifos, phorate, and methyl parathion, respectively. The proposed method was validated with real environmental water samples and the spiked recoveries were over the range of 86.5–115.1%. All these results indicated that TiO₂ nanotubes, as a new SPE adsorbent, would be used widespread for the preconcentraiton and determination of environmental pollutants in the future.     

Bamboo charcoal as adsorbent for SPE coupled with monolithic column-HPLC for rapid determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water samples

The coupling of solid-phase extraction (SPE) using bamboo charcoal (BC) as an adsorbent with a monolithic column-high performance liquid chromatography (MC-HPLC) method was developed for the high-efficiency enrichment and rapid determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water. Key influence factors, such as the type and the volume of the elution solvent, and the flow rate and the volume of the sample loading, were optimized to obtain a high SPE recovery and extraction efficiency. BC as an SPE adsorbent presented a high extraction efficiency due to its large specific surface area and high adsorption capacity; MC as an HPLC column accelerated the separation within 8 min because of its high porosity, fast mass transfer, and low-pressure resistance. The calibration curves for the PAHs extracted were linear in the range of 0.2-15 μg/L, with the correlation coefficients (r(2)) between 0.9970-0.9999. This method attained good precisions (relative standard deviation, RSD) from 3.5 to 10.9% for the standard PAHs I aqueous solutions at 5 μg/L; the method recoveries ranged in 52.6-121.6% for real spiked river water samples with 0.4 and 4 μg/L. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) of the method were determined from 11 and 87 ng/L. The developed method was demonstrated to be applicable for the rapid and sensitive determination of 16 PAHs in real environmental water samples.     

Sensitive determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water samples by HPLC coupled with SPE based on graphene functionalized with triethoxysilane

The graphene functionalized with (3‐aminopropyl) triethoxysilane was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal reaction and applied as SPE sorbents to extract trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from environmental water samples. These sorbents possess high adsorption capacity and extraction efficiency due to strong adsorption ability of carbon materials and large specific surface area of nanoparticles, and only 10 mg of sorbents are required to extract PAHs from 100 mL water samples. Several condition parameters, such as eluent and its volume, adsorbent amount, sample volume, sample pH, and sample flow rate, were optimized to achieve good sensitivity and precision. Under the optimized extraction conditions, the method showed good linearity in the range of 1–100 μg/L, repeatability of the extraction (the RSDs were between 1.8 and 2.9%, n = 6), and satisfactory detection limits of 0.029–0.1 μg/L. The recoveries of PAHs spiked in environmental water samples ranged from 84.6 to 109.5%. All these results demonstrated that this new SPE technique was a viable alternative to conventional enrichment techniques for the extraction and analysis of PAHs in complex samples.     

固相萃取-气相色谱-串联质谱法检测水中18种酚类化合物

当前水中酚类化合物种类不清、危害不明，多种酚类化合物的同时检测方法不成熟，因此建立水中多种酚类化合物同时检测的方法具有重要现实意义。该研究建立了固相萃取结合气相色谱-串联质谱同时检测水中18种酚类化合物的分析方法。实验选择超纯水为空白样品，采用固相萃取技术富集、提取水中的酚类化合物，同时对水样初始pH值、洗脱液的种类、洗脱液的用量等条件进行优化，从而确定出最优的前处理方法，最后利用气相色谱-串联质谱法对不同种类的酚类化合物同时进行定量检测。实验结果表明，在初始水样pH值为3.0、不衍生等条件下，使用10 mL乙酸乙酯洗脱，控制洗脱速度为1 mL/min，经固相柱富集净化，氮吹浓缩后，用气相色谱-质谱仪（EI源）测定，选择离子模式监测，外标法定量。结果表明，以3倍信噪比结合浓度外推法确定方法检出限，为0.04~0.6 μg/L；18种酚类化合物的加标回收率为51.7%~117.3%，相对标准偏差为3.1%~7.4%。应用建立的方法分别检测了河流湖泊水、生活用水、生产用水3大类6种不同的水质。检测结果表明，河流湖泊水中酚类化合物所含种类最多，含量最高。研究建立的方法不需要衍生，简化了前处理方法，操作简单，且准确性高，重复性好，可同时检测复杂水体中多种酚类化合物，能显著提高酚类化合物的分析速率。该方法的建立对我国水中酚类化合物残留水平的控制、检测标准的制定和管理措施的采取，都具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

Determination of acidic drugs and caffeine in municipal wastewaters and receiving waters by gas chromatography-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

Some aspects of both sample preparation and instrumental techniques for analysis of such acidic drugs as acetylsalicylic acid, ibuprofen, gemfibrozil, fenoprofen, naproxen, ketoprofen, and diclofenac, as well as caffeine in surface water and municipal wastewater have been studied and further developed. Water samples were filtered and target analytes were extracted by solid-phase extraction (SPE). Supelco LC-18 and Oasis HLB SPE cartridges were used to pre-concentrate samples for acidic drugs and caffeine, respectively. A methylation process was applied to acidic drugs prior to analysis while caffeine was analyzed directly. A method of gas chromatography-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (IT-MS/MS) for analysis of the target acidic pharmaceuticals and caffeine is presented here in detail. Such parameters as collision-induced dissociation (CID) voltage, isolation time, excitation time, excitation storage level, and electron energy were adjusted in order to optimize the instrument analytical performance. After optimization, an instrument detection limit of 0.5-20 pg/microL with signal-to-noise (S/N) not less than 5 was achieved for all target analytes. It was shown that this method has good linearity within the range of 10-2000 pg/microL. The application of the optimized IT-MS/MS parameters conjointly with the sample preparation procedure resulted in method detection limits (MDLs) of 0.1-1.0 and 20 ng/L for the determination of acidic drugs and caffeine, respectively in such samples as surface water, effluent from municipal wastewater plants, as well as receiving waters.     

固相萃取-分散液液微萃取-柱前衍生法测定水样中痕量雌激素

建立了碳纳米管的固相萃取-分散液液微萃取-柱前荧光衍生化(SPE-DLLME-PFD)测定水体中痕量雌三醇(E3)、双酚A(BPA)、17α-乙炔基雌二醇(EE2)及17β-雌二醇(E2)的高效液相色谱方法.采用中心复合设计和响应曲面法分析并优化SPE、DLLME及PLD条件,最佳条件为210 mL水样以2.0 mL/min的流速过固相萃取柱(碳纳米管量30 mg),甲醇洗脱,氮气浓缩并定容至0.6 mL(分散剂),将100 μL C6MIM[PF6]与分散剂的混合液注入到NaCl含量为25％的2.0 mL去离子水中,离心,移取20 μL下层有机相于样品瓶中,与4.0 mg衍生剂混合,在40℃水浴中衍生25 min;用0.1mL甲醇溶解过量的衍生剂颗粒,取20 μL进样分析.在优化条件下.4种雌激素的线性范围为0.05～5.00 μg/L,相关系数R2=0.9966～0.9999;,检出限介于0.13～6.33 ng/L(S/N=3)之间.不同加标浓度条件下,雌激素的加标回收率在83.1％～122.4％范围内(RSD=1.7％～9.6％).在实际水样中E3和BPA检出率较高.与其它方法相比,本方法虽然萃取时间长、水样量大、步骤多,但具有检出限低、操作简便、环境友好等优点.     

Combined method of solid-phase extraction and GC-MS for determination of acidic,neutral, and basic emerging contaminants in wastewater (Poland)

In this study an analytical procedure of solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was elaborated and validated for simultaneous determination of 11 acidic, neutral and basic emerging contaminants in wastewater. The most frequently used pharmaceuticals were studied, i.e. five anti-inflammatory drugs – ibuprofen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, naproxen and salicylic acid, an antiepileptic drug carbamazepine, clofibric acid, antibacterial triclosan, a plasticiser bisphenol A and two β-blockers – propranolol and metoprolol. Sample enrichment was performed using Oasis HLB sorbent. Sample pH and sorbent washing step during the solid-phase extraction were optimised on real wastewater samples. Recoveries of the most polar acidic compounds diminished substantially when the alkalinity of the sample loaded into the cartridge increased. Thus finally wastewater was extracted at pH 2.0. Before elution, sorbent was washed subsequently with 5% methanol in water and n-hexane, which resulted in best recoveries of most of the target compounds and reduced a co-elution phenomena with respect to β-blockers. The optimised method was successfully applied to influent and effluent samples from wastewater treatment plant, Krakow, Poland. All target compounds except propranolol were identified in wastewater at a concentration up to 12.8 µg L^?1.     

Titanium wire-based SPE coupled with HPLC for the analysis of PAHs in water samples

Titanium wire-based solid phase extraction (SPE) is developed for the analysis of six different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water samples with coupling with high performance liquid chromatography. The adsorbent is a Ti wire on which TiO(2) nanotubes are first formed by anodization and then Au nanoparticles and n-octadecanethiol are modified. The surface composition and structure of the adsorbent were characterized in detail using field emission scanning electron microscope and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The main parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, such as the volume of the organic modifier, extraction time, elution solvent, and desorption time were optimized. Good linearities ranging from 0.025 to 30 μg L(-1) with correlation coefficients (R(2)) ranging from 0.9964 to 0.9999 and low limits of detection were obtained in spiked water samples. Furthermore, this method was successfully applied in the analysis of real river water samples with recoveries in the range of 75.33-115.83% and relative standard deviations ranging from 4.85 to 10.77%. The developed SPE can be a particularly convenient means of sample pretreatment for environmental water samples.     

Multi-residue analytical method for the determination of emerging pollutants in water by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

This paper describes the development and validation of a method for the simultaneous determination of 53 multi-class emerging organic pollutants in water samples using solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using electrospray ionisation (ESI) in both positive and negative modes. Target compounds include acidic herbicides, UV filters, insect repellents, organophosphorous flame retardants, a bactericide, pharmaceuticals and metabolites. A single SPE consisting on the loading of 200-500 mL of sample adjusted to pH 7 on Oasis HLB 200mg cartridges and elution with methanol, permitted obtaining good recoveries: higher than 60% for tap, surface and wastewater in most cases. The 7 isotopically labelled internal standards effectively compensated losses during sample preparation and matrix effects at LC-MS/MS determination. The precision of the method, calculated as relative standard deviation (RSD) was below 15% for all compounds and all tested matrices. Detection limits (LODs) based on the confirmation, less intense, MRM (multiple reaction monitoring) transition and considering blanks varied between 0.3 and 30 ngL(-1). Finally, the developed method was applied to the determination of target analytes in various samples, including tap, surface and waste water. Among the tested emerging pollutants, 31 were found in wastewater in concentrations reaching up to 10 microgL(-1) in the case of ibuprofen. Also, 13 species were detected in tap water with concentrations up to 0.13 microgL(-1) for tri(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP).     

In‐line preconcentration capillary zone electrophoresis for the analysis of haloacetic acids in water

Two in‐line enrichment procedures (large volume sample stacking (LVSS) and field amplified sample injection (FASI)) have been evaluated for the CZE analysis of haloacetic acids (HAAs) in drinking water. For LVSS, separation on normal polarity using 20 mM acetic acid–ammonium acetate (pH 5.5) containing 20% ACN as BGE was required. For FASI, the optimum conditions were 25 s hydrodynamic injection (3.5 kPa) of a water plug followed by 25 s electrokinetic injection (?10 kV) of the sample, and 200 mM formic acid–ammonium formate buffer at pH 3.0 as BGE. For both FASI and LVSS methods, linear calibration curves (r²>0.992), limit of detection on standards prepared in Milli‐Q water (49.1–200 μg/L for LVSS and 4.2–48 μg/L for FASI), and both run‐to‐run and day‐to‐day precisions (RSD values up to 15.8% for concentration) were established. Due to the higher sensitive enhancement (up to 310‐fold) achieved with FASI‐CZE, this method was selected for the analysis of HAAs in drinking water. However, for an optimal FASI application sample salinity was removed by SPE using Oasis WAX cartridges. With SPE‐FASI‐CZE, method detection limits in the range 0.05–0.8 μg/L were obtained, with recoveries, in general, higher than 90% (around 65% for monochloroacetic and monobromoacetic acids). The applicability of the SPE‐FASI‐CZE method was evaluated by analyzing drinking tap water from Barcelona where seven HAAs were found at concentration levels between 3 and 13 μg/L.     

Combination of off-line solid-phase extraction and on-column sample stacking for sensitive determination of parabens and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in waters by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis

For the first time, a procedure based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) for the simultaneous extraction of a group of parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl and benzyl p-hydroxybenzoates) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHBA), from environmental water samples has been developed. Analysis of the extracts was performed by non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) coupled with diode array detection (DAD), using large-volume sample stacking (LVSS) based on the electroosmotic flow pump as on-column preconcentration technique. Several water samples, such as tap, river, and wastewater samples, were analyzed using both SPE-NACE-DAD and SPE-LVSS-NACE-DAD methods. It has been observed that in addition to SPE parameters such as sorbent material, sample pH, breakthrough volume, addition of an organic solvent and elution solvent, also sample characteristics, such as organic matter content, have influence on SPE extraction yields, especially in the case of PHBA. The presence of PHBA and some parabens was detected at trace levels in surface water samples. Concentrations up to 8.4 ng mL⁻¹ were found in raw wastewater, with the highest levels corresponding to methylparaben, propylparaben, and their main degradation product, PHBA.     

A multiresidue analytical method using solid-phase extraction and high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to measure pharmaceuticals of different therapeutic classes in urban wastewaters

An analytical method with two extraction steps has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 30 pharmaceuticals belonging to various therapeutic categories in urban wastewater. The aim was to boost the little available information on drugs' fates in sewage treatment plants (STPs) and in the receiving surface water. Aqueous samples were divided into two aliquots, each extracted by a different solid-phase extraction (SPE) method and analysed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS-MS). Recoveries of the pharmaceuticals were mostly greater than 70% and the overall variability of the method was below 8%. The instrumental quantification limit (IQL) varied between 30 and 400 pg injected, and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were in the low ng/L range. Nineteen pharmaceuticals were detected in concentrations between 0.5 and 2000 ng/L in effluents collected from several STPs in Italy. Atenolol, ciprofloxacin, furosemide, hydrochlorothiazide, ofloxacin, ranitidine and sulphamethoxazole were the most abundant compounds. The present analytical method was useful to check for pharmaceuticals in various Italian STPs and to identify the most abundant compounds.     

Simultaneous determination of acidic,neutral and basic pharmaceuticals in urban wastewater by ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

In this work, an ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method has been developed for the simultaneous quantification and confirmation of the 20 most consumed pharmaceuticals in Spain in urban wastewater and surface water samples. The scope of the method included acidic, neutral and basic compounds belonging to different therapeutic classes and allows their simultaneous determination in just a single injection, giving realistic information of the most widely consumed pharmaceuticals in only one analysis. An enrichment step based on solid-phase extraction using Oasis HLB cartridges was carried out, followed by UHPLC-MS/MS measurement with a fast-acquisition triple quadrupole mass analyzer. It allowed working with short dwell times and made possible to acquire three simultaneous SRM transitions per compound to assure a reliable identification. Several isotope-labelled internal standards were used as surrogates to correct SPE losses, as well as matrix effects that notably affect quantification of analytes. The method was validated in surface water and effluent and influent urban wastewater at different concentrations from 0.005 μg/L (surface water) to 1.25 μg/L (influent wastewater). The optimized method was applied to the analysis of 84 urban wastewater samples (influent and effluent), with the result that 17 out of 20 compounds monitored were detected in the samples. Analgesics and anti-inflamatories, cholesterol lowering statin drugs and lipid regulators were the major groups found, with diclofenac, ketoprofen, naproxen, 4-aminoantipyrine, bezafibrate, gemfibrozil and venlafaxine being the most frequently detected. The highest concentration level reached was 277 μg/L for salicylic acid in influent wastewater.     

固相萃取/超高压液相色谱-质谱/质谱联用技术测定土壤与灌溉水中的矮壮素及缩节胺

采用固相萃取技术对土壤和灌溉用水中的矮壮素及缩节胺进行富集处理,并对固相萃取柱的类型和淋洗条件进行优化,采用超高压液相色谱-质谱/质谱联用技术对富集样品进行分离检测.结果表明,灌溉水中矮壮素和缩节胺的加标水平为0.05、0.10、0.20μg/L时,回收率分别为73%～83%和76%～81%,相对标准偏差分别为9.2%...     

On-line solid phase extraction LC-MS/MS analysis of pharmaceutical indicators in water: A green alternative to conventional methods

A method using automated on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) directly coupled to liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the analysis of six pharmaceuticals by isotope dilution. These selected pharmaceuticals were chosen as representative indicator compounds and were used to evaluate the performance of the on-line SPE method in four distinct water matrices. Method reporting limits (MRLs) ranged from 10 to 25 ng/L, based on a 1 mL extraction volume. Matrix spike recoveries ranged from 88 to 118% for all matrices investigated, including finished drinking water, surface water, wastewater effluent and septic tank influent. Precision tests were performed at 50 and 1000 ng/L with relative standard deviations (RSDs) between 1.3 and 5.7%. A variety of samples were also extracted using a traditional off-line automated SPE method for comparison. Results for both extraction methods were in good agreement; however, on-line SPE used approximately 98% less solvent and less time. On-line SPE coupled to LC-MS/MS analysis for selected indicators offers an alternative, more environmentally friendly, method for pharmaceutical analysis in water by saving time and costs while reducing hazardous waste and potential environmental pollution as compared with off-line SPE methods.