Zero valent iron mediated degradation of the pharmaceutical diazepam

Abstract

Parameters that influence the zero valent iron mediated degradation of the pharmaceutical diazepam (DZP) were evaluated including the iron concentration and its pre-treatment, the effect of complexation with EDTA and oxic versus anoxic condition. It was observed that acid pre-treatment of iron particles is important for degradation efficiency and that H2SO4 is a better choice than HCl, resulting in higher degradation of DZP. Under oxic conditions, the degradation of DZP achieved 96% after 60 min using Fe-o (25 g L-1) pre-treated with H2SO4 in the presence of EDTA (119 mg L-1), while mineralization achieved around 60% after the same time. Under anoxic conditions, degradation occurred, however at lower extent, achieving 67% after 120 min. The addition of EDTA improved the treatment efficiency in 20% leading to 99% DZP degradation after 120 min. The first intermediates formed during DZP degradation were identified using LC/MS analysis and revealed the formation of mono- and di-hydroxylated products from DZP during Fe-o/EDTA/O-2 degradation, which evidences that OH was the main oxidizing species formed in this process. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.