Fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides: features of their determination in water. A review

Sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones are two group of antibiotics widely used in the treatment of bacterial infections. Monitoring these residues in live animals and animal products is commonly legislated; however, the environmental occurrence and fate is still sporadically assessed. The development of adequate analytical methods is a key issue to provide accurate data on concentrations of antimicrobial compounds and their residues in different organic matters. This review presents an overview of proposed methods published between 2008 and 2013 for analysis of fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides with special emphasis on sample preparation and detection systems employed. The coupling of high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry has been the most widely used method to determination of sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones, concomitantly to other antibiotics residues, due to high sensitivity and selectivity. The main drawbacks of this technique are the high cost and the equipment complexity. The coupling high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection has also been used to fluoroquinolones determination. Their fluorescent properties allowed the development of several methods with limits of detection in ng L^?1 range. Sample preparation is an important tool to reach lower detection limits and the online solid-phase extraction has a broader use. The hydrophilic–lipophilic balance polymeric are the mostly applied sorbents for sulfonamides and fluoroquinolones preconcentration. These sorbents have allowed reaching better recoveries and sensitivity improvement. Physico-chemical properties of these antibiotic groups in addition to trends on papers occurrence and frequency of analysis in different types of water (surface water, groundwater, drinking water and wastewater) are discussed.