Trace analysis of fluoxetine and its metabolite norfluoxetine. Part I: Development of a chiral liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for wastewater samples

An enantioselective method for the determination of fluoxetine (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) and its pharmacologically active metabolite norfluoxetine has been developed for raw and treated wastewater samples. The stable isotope-labeled fluoxetine and norfluoxetine were used in an extended way for extraction recovery calculations at trace level concentrations in wastewater. Wastewater samples were enriched by solid phase extraction (SPE) with Evolute CX-50 extraction cartridges. The obtained extraction recoveries ranged between 65 and 82% in raw and treated wastewater at a trace level concentration of 50 pM (15–16 ng L−1). The target compounds were identified by the use of chiral liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The enantiomers were successfully resolved on a chiral α1-acid glycoprotein column (chiral AGP) with acetonitrile and 10 mM ammonium acetate buffer at pH 4.4 (3/97, v/v) as the mobile phase. The effects of pH, amount of organic modifier and buffer concentration in the mobile phase were investigated on the enantiomeric resolution (Rs) of the target compounds. Enantiomeric Rs-values above 2.0 (1.03 RSD%, n = 3) were achieved for the enantiomers of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in all mobile phases investigated. The method was validated by assessing parameters such as cross-contamination and carryover during SPE and during LC analysis. Cross-talk effects were examined during the detection of the analytes in SRM mode. In addition, the isotopic purity of fluoxetine-d5 and norfluoxetine-d5 were assessed to exclude the possibility of self-contamination. The interassay precision of the chromatographic separation was excellent, with relative standard deviations (RSD) equal to or lower than 0.56 and 0.81% in raw and treated wastewaters, respectively. The method detection and quantification limits (respectively, MDL and MQL) were determined by the use of fluoxetine-d5 and norfluoxetine-d5. The MQL for the single enantiomers ranged from 12 to 14 pM (3.6–4.3 ng L−1) in raw wastewater and from 3 to 4 pM (0.9–1 ng L−1) in treated wastewater. The developed method has been employed for the quantification of (R)-fluoxetine, (S)-fluoxetine and the enantiomers of norfluoxetine in raw and treated wastewater samples to be presented in Part II of this study.