Abstract:
The study and quantification of personal care products, such as pharmaceuticals, in surface water has
become popular in recent years; yet very little description of these compounds’ presence in South African
surface water exists in the literature. Antiretrovirals (ARVs), used to treat human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) are rarely considered within this field. A new method for the simultaneous quantification of 12
antiretroviral compounds in surface water using the standard addition method is described. Water
samples were concentrated by a generic automated solid phase extraction method and analysed by ultrahigh
pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Substantial matrix
effect was encountered in the samples with an average method detection limit of 90.4 ng/L. This is the
first reported countrywide survey of South African surface water for the quantification of these compounds
with average concentrations ranging between 26.5 and 430 ng/L.
