Removal of pain-relieving drugs from aqueous solutions using Octolig and selected metalloligs

Abstract

The possibility of removing certain pharmaceuticals (acetaminophen and naproxen) from water was tested using Octolig, a commercially available material with polyethylenediimine moieties covalently attached to high-surface area silica gel. In addition, the efficacy of two transition metals (cupric and ferric) derivatives of Octolig was tested. Previously amoxicillin had been successfully subjected to column chromatography for removal by means of ion encapsulation, the effectiveness of which would depend upon having appropriate anionic functional groups. Both pharmaceuticals were removed by passage over Octolig columns, though with less effectiveness than was achieved previously with xanthenylbenzenes or selected food dyes. Somewhat greater removal, ca 90%, was achieved using Cuprilig, the copper(II) derivative, but not with Ferrilig the iron(III) derivative, perhaps because the hydroxide counter ion was more closely associated with the transition metal ion and was not available to assist in proton removal.

Keywords:

• Acetaminophen
• hospitals
• metalloligs
• naproxen
• Octolig
• pharmaceuticals
• remediation

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge samples of Octolig provided by Metre-General, Inc. by President Robert L. Alldredge (dec) and by Mark Alldredge. We are grateful to Dr. Randy Larsen for the access to the Shimadzu UV-2401 PC UV-Vis recording spectrophotometer in his laboratory. We acknowledge the helpful assistance of Ms. Wen-Shan Chang and Mr. Michael Slater at an earlier stage in this research, and the technical assistance of Mr. Parker Huhta and Mr. M. Trent Kemp. We are grateful for specific and helpful comments of two anonymous commendable reviewers.