Abstract
Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are particles between 1 and 100 nanometres in size with
a surrounding interfacial layer. These engineered nanoparticles are currently classified as a
new class of emerging pollutants. Industries that are responsible for the production of food,
pigments and paints, textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and electronics are believed to be
the source of engineered nanoparticles into the environment. The unfortunate part is that
there are no regulations put in place on their limitation in the environment and living
organisms may not have proper mechanisms to deal with their exposure. These engineered
nanoparticles pose characteristics of being tiny and microscopic, therefore, they can easily
penetrate and reside inside the cells of living organisms and in that case they are classified
as potential carcinogens. Antibiotics also contributes to the class of emerging pollutants.
Antibiotics are known as a type of antimicrobial substances that are active against bacteria
and are the most important types of antibacterial agents for fighting bacterial infections.
Antibiotic pharmaceutical drugs are widely used in the treatment and prevention of such
infections. They may either kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics are either
excreted or disposed into the environment after use. There are various ways in which these
antibiotics enter the environment, this includes run offs from water bodies, leaking septic
tanks and the release of wastewater effluents, hence the release of these antibiotics into the
environment does not stop. For this reason, it is very crucial to monitor the availability,
presence and levels of antibiotics into the environment.
Emerging pollutants are present in the environment at trace levels and bounded to complex
matrices which makes it difficult to analyse them using analytical techniques. Therefore,
the aim of this study was to develop sample preparation methods in order to assist the
shortcomings of conventional analytical detection techniques (such as inductively coupled
plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and high performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC)) encountered during the analysis of emerging pollutants. To
achieve the aim of the study, three different sample preparation techniques were
investigated: supramolecular solvent based microextraction, vortex assisted dispersive
liquid-liquid microextraction (VA-DLLME) and ultrasound assisted surfactant based
dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (UAS-DLLME).
Firstly, a supramolecular solvent based microextraction technique was developed for the
extraction, separation and preconcentration of selected fluoroquinolone antibiotics coupled...
M.Sc. (Applied Chemistry)