Assessment of the presence of transformation products of pharmaceuticals in agricultural environments irrigated with reclaimed water by wide-scope LC-QTOF-MS suspect screening

Highlights: • LC-QTOF-MS suspect screening to evaluate 262 TPs in agroecosystems. • 18 TPs tentatively identified and 7 confirmed in reclaimed water, soil and leaves. • None of the investigated TPs were detected in the analysed tomato fruits. • Potential spread of antibiotic resistance due to detected active antibiotic TPs. • Additional research is needed in other crops and reclaimed water agro-ecosystems. The transformation that pharmaceuticals can undergo during the water reclamation cycle, or by biotic/abiotic reactions when reclaimed water (RW) is used for irrigation, can lead to the presence of transformation products (TPs) in agricultural environments. However, data on TPs in real crops are scarce. Herein, a suspect screening approach was applied for the comprehensive investigation of 262 potential TPs, associated with 20 prioritised pharmaceuticals found in real tomato crops exposed to long-term RW irrigation. The occurrence and fate of the TPs was evaluated by the retrospective analysis of RW, soil, leave and tomato samples from 4 intensive production greenhouses. Sample analysis was accomplished by liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). Up to 18 TPs were tentatively identified, of which 2 were not previously reported. 7 TPs were finally confirmed with analytical standards. 5 TPs were determined in RW, 15 TPs in soil and 2 TPs in leaves. Remarkably, the investigated TPs were not found in tomato fruits. These results shed light on the variety of TPs that can be found in the water reuse cycle and contribute to the assessment of the global risks of wastewater reuse and the safety of the vegetable and fruit production system.