Pharmaceutical compounds electrotreatment by Pt anodes and effect on synaptic function

Abstract

Thousands of compounds are used and disposed of every day and many of them are not degraded in conventional treatment plants. It is necessary an alternative to eliminate these compounds. This can be done through electrooxidation technology, which was applied in this work to a mixture of pharmaceutical compounds including alprazolam (ALP), clonazepam (CLP), diazepam (DZP), lorazepam (LZP) and carbamazepine (CBZ) at 100 µg.L-1. The mixture was studied with different types of electrolytes and the neurotoxic effect of the treatment was evaluated. The best result was obtained with NaCl (0.5 g.L-1), leading to complete degradation of CLP, LZP and CBZ.