Theoretical and experimental study of the use of molecularly imprinted polymers for the determination of cannabinoids and metabolites in domestic sewage samples from ETE Parque Andreense

Abstract

9-THC is the most widely used and produced illicit drug, consumed by between 125 and 203 million people worldwide in 2009. Due to the stability of the prevalence rates of drug consumption in the last decade these substances became part of the group of emerging environmental contaminants of interest for new studies. The analysis of incoming sewage in a sewage treatment plant can provide real-time data of drug consumption, considering that the excretion of these substances as active metabolites occurs in the urine and feces. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been used for preconcentration and extraction of several analytes from the samples, having greater selectivity than the conventional sorbents used in the solid phase extraction. In this project, computational methods will be employed to rationalize the design of MIPs, considering the analysis of interactions between the template molecule and functional monomers that can be used. The conditions of synthesis will be optimized by the experimental design strategy. Using the MIP prepared by optimal conditions, a molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction procedure, followed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry iontrap, will be developed for the selective extraction and determination of 9-THC and its metabolites in wastewater. (AU)