Critical Review
Monitoring of emerging contaminants of concern in the aquatic environment: a review of studies showing the application of effect-based measures
Water scarcity is increasingly a global cause of concern mainly due to widespread changes in climate conditions and increased consumptive water use driven by the exponential increase in population growth.
Suspect and non-target screening: the last frontier in environmental analysis
This review evaluates the state of the art of suspect and non-target screening techniques including sampling, sample treatment, instrumental analysis, data processing and an examination of recent applications in xenobiotics' environmental occurrence.
(Very) polar organic compounds in the Danube river basin: a non-target screening workflow and prioritization strategy for extracting highly confident features
A hidden-target screening workflow to tentatively identify polar organic molecules yielded 67 candidate substances of which 11 are considered to be of high priority for the Danube river basin.
Paper
Rapid direct analysis of river water and machine learning assisted suspect screening of emerging contaminants in passive sampler extracts
Machine-learning assisted suspect screening in passive sampler extracts and rapid direct injection LC-MS/MS of river water from the River Thames, London, UK in 2018/9.
A multi-residue analytical method for extraction and analysis of pharmaceuticals and other selected emerging contaminants in sewage sludge
The present study developed and applied a reliable analytical method for the analysis of 44 ECs in sewage sludge. The most abundant compounds were antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and antihypertensives that showed seasonal variability.
Use of Chemcatcher® passive sampler with high-resolution mass spectrometry and multi-variate analysis for targeted screening of emerging pesticides in water
Use of high-resolution mass spectrometry screening workflow of pesticides in a river catchment can lead to enhanced risk assessments.
Determination of prescribed and designer benzodiazepines and metabolites in influent wastewater
With illicit and designer benzodiazepines becoming more prevalent in the community, this work presents the validation and application of an analytical method for prescribed benzodiazepines and metabolites in wastewater.
Multi-residue determination of micropollutants in Nigerian fish from Lagos lagoon using ultrasound assisted extraction, solid phase extraction and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
This reports for the first time a simple and robust approach in determining pharmaceuticals in different fish species in Nigeria.
Determination of perfluoroalkyl acids in different tissues of graminaceous plants
A method for the determination of 12 perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAA) in vegetal samples was proposed.
About this collection
A collection of papers and reviews focusing on emerging contaminants, which are pollutants of growing concern. The scope of this collection covers analytical methods that can be used for sampling and pre-treatment for chemicals of concern. Current monitoring methods are infrequent and new methods for measurement of CECs are being developed, including chemical sensors and biosensors as well as passive sampling methods. This themed issue also includes papers on real applications to environmental and other samples. A growing drive to develop effects-based methods is emerging and the challenge of quantifying and addressing chemical cocktails is also considered.
This collection is Guest Edited by Fiona Regan (Dublin City University, Ireland), Sara Castiglioni (Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Italy) and Leon Barron (King’s College London, UK).