Georgios Gkotsis

Extensive monitoring of organic pollutants in urban wastewater is mandated by Directive (EU) 2024/3019, yet discrepancies between regulatory prioritization and scientific evidence remain. This study aims to comprehensively characterize the chemical and toxic composition of wastewater from two sites subjected to different anthropogenic pressures. To achieve this, a combined analytical strategy integrating target analysis with semi-quantitative suspect screening was applied, extending beyond current regulatory requirements. The results revealed complex mixtures of organic pollutants across multiple chemical classes in both wastewater treatment plants, with distinct chemical fingerprints reflecting location-specific human activities. Suspect screening substantially expanded (+23%) chemical coverage, identifying 90 previously overlooked contaminants. Instead of counting compounds exceeding their PNEC, compounds and chemical classes were ranked by their contribution to the cumulative toxic load, preserving each compound’s quantitative contribution to overall mixture toxicity. Toxic-load assessment showed that increased chemical complexity does not necessarily correspond to higher toxic pressure, as overall toxicity was driven by a limited number of high-impact substances. The study introduces a robust, holistic, and novel approach for next-generation, integrated target and suspect screening-based monitoring of urban wastewater and mixture toxic-load assessment for compounds identified in effluent wastewater.

Reliable identification of contaminants in complex matrices remains hampered by low-abundance signals, complex spectra, and coeluting isobars in liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) analyses with data-independent acquisitions. Moreover, wide-scope target screening workflows covering hundreds to thousands of known compounds from reference standards analyses often fail to fully exploit the acquired data, leading to false positives and false negatives. Herein, trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) was integrated into LC-HRMS, and an enriched database and an analyte-specific framework were introduced for enhanced identification confidence. The database including 1948 contaminants incorporated all MS and MS/MS qualifier ions together with their CCS values and mobility filtering windows, alongside the principal ion. Specific qualifiers were designated as mandatory for the first time by evaluating their relative intensity compared to the principal ion (≥50%), with the established identification points systems being refined accordingly to increase confidence. Regarding TIMS data, ∼2500 CCS values were determined, exhibiting high repeatability (RSD ≤ 0.70%) and interinstrument reproducibility (|ΔCCS|≤ 2%). Comparison with literature data across different IMS-HRMS platforms showed CCS accuracy within 2% for 89% of the ions. In matrix spiking experiments (raptor’s eggs, human urine, wastewater), the cleaner mobility-filtered spectra resulted in improved selectivity for several contaminants’ qualifiers, which improved detection at low concentrations, minimizing false negatives. Additionally, both differentiation based on CCS values (e.g., atenolol–practolol) and mandatory detection of predefined qualifiers (e.g., prometryn–terbutryn) decreased false positives. By incorporating the TIMS dimension and mandatory qualifiers as additional identification information, this work provides a robust framework for high-throughput environmental monitoring and human exposure assessment.

BACKGROUND: Hospital premises generate wastewater containing a wide spectrum of contaminants, such as pharmaceutically active compounds ( PhACs ), antibiotic resistance genes ( ARGs ) and pathogenic microorganisms, whilst plenty of them are classified under the antibiotic resistant bacteria ( ΑRΒ ) category. These contaminants are of great concern, as they could have serious repercussions to the environment and public health. In the current study, a pilot‐scale unit based on Advanced Oxidation Processes ( AOPs ), was installed and operated on hospital's premises, in order to treat a highly contaminated stream of real hospital wastewater (HWW), evaluating: UV/H ₂ O ₂ , UV/TiO ₂ ‐A, UV/TiO ₂ ‐B, UV/H ₂ O ₂ + TiO ₂ ‐A and UV/H ₂ O ₂ + TiO ₂ ‐B at contact times of 6 and 11 h. RESULTS: According to the results, 93 pharmaceuticals, parent compounds and metabolites, were detected and quantified using LC‐QTOF‐MS in the HWW produced in a building housing specific medical services. Their concentrations ranged between a few μg L ⁻¹ and several hundreds μg L ⁻¹ , while the concentrations of pathogens ranged from 10 ³ to 10 ⁶ CFUs 100 mL ⁻¹ . The removal rates of the sum of pharmaceuticals after 6 h of treatment were 44.6% and 40.4% for UV/H ₂ O ₂ and UV/TiO _2, respectively. Acute toxicity to Daphnia magna decreased after treatment; at 25% (v/v) HWW, the UV/H ₂ O ₂ effluent after 6 h caused 0% immobilization. In contrast, TiO₂‐based treatments remained toxic at 6 h, but toxicity was decreased after 11 h, with immobilization to 40–60% at 50% (v/v) HWW. Regarding the examined bacteria Enterococci, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella sp., and Staphylococcus sp. , both treatment processes achieved almost complete elimination. In contrast, although a decrease in the concentrations of ARGs was observed, they exhibited complex behaviour and remained in remarkable concentrations in the effluents. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that the applied processes have the potential to be implemented in the future for on‐site pre‐treatment of heavily contaminated HWW. © 2026 The Author(s). Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

To address the threat posed by chemicals to biodiversity and human health, the EU has introduced restrictions on certain substance groups over recent decades, notably polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Evidence of effectiveness of such restrictions in reducing exposure in terrestrial wildlife is limited. The common buzzard Buteo buteo has been identified as a suitable species for contaminant monitoring at pan-European scale. Here, we examine whether numbers and concentrations of PCBs and PBDEs show any sign of declining in the common buzzard in The Netherlands over the period 1994-2020. We used livers from 64 buzzards found dead in 10 Dutch provinces. Liver extracts were analysed by GC-MS for 31 PCBs and 23 PBDEs. We measured number of PCB and PBDE congeners, sum of PCB residues (ΣPCB) and of BDE residues (ΣBDE). Results for PCBs and PBDEs were separately analysed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and linear regression modelling supplemented by ANOVA. PCA indicated that ΣPCB and ΣBDE highly correlated with selected congeners. Linear regression revealed a declining trend over time in ΣPCB concentrations but not in number of PCB congeners, number of PBDE congeners, or ΣPBDEs. However, the decline in ΣPCB concentrations may be an artefact as year and province are not independent variables; the apparent time trend may be explained by spatial differences (between provinces). Indeed, province significantly influenced ΣPCB concentrations. Age and sex had no apparent influence on ΣPCB or ΣPBDEs. Our findings suggest that the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions on PCBs and PBDEs may vary with location.

The pollution status of Saronikos Gulf was studied via target and suspect screening, with WWTPs identified as the main sources. PFAS concentrations exceeded AA-EQS values in 92% of seawater samples. Circulation/precipitation patterns are discussed.

The widespread discharge of industrial and urban waste has led to significant increases in the environmental concentrations of numerous chemical substances. This work presents the development of a simple and environmentally friendly dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) method based on a hydrophobic natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) for the determination of selected compounds from benzotriazole, benzothiazole, paraben, and UV filter families in wastewater samples. Of the twelve NADES formulations evaluated, those composed of a 4:1 molar ratio of thymol and menthol presented the highest extraction efficiencies. The influence of key experimental variables such as the pH of the aqueous sample, the ratio of NADES phase to sample volume, and the extraction time on the extraction efficiency was investigated using a multivariate optimization. Under optimal conditions, relative standard deviations below 15% and recoveries for spiked wastewater samples ranged between 82 and 108%, demonstrating the suitability of the method for routine water-quality monitoring. The sustainability and practicality of the developed method was evaluated using the assessment tools ChlorTox, AGREEprep, AGRRE, and BAGI, obtaining scores of 0.005 g in the NADES-DLLME method, 0.70, 0.52, and 72.5, respectively, demonstrating that the method is green and reliable.

A holistic investigation of legacy persistent organic pollutants and contaminants of emerging concern was conducted for 14 biota samples collected from Antarctica between 2018 and 2020. The sample set included sea stars, sea urchins, macrophytes, fish muscle, seal muscle and placenta, and penguin muscle and eggs. The four Water Framework Directive heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, and mercury) were present in all samples. Organophosphorus flame retardants and brominated flame retardants were detected sporadically at low concentration levels (below 0.7 ng/g ww). Isomers of Dechlorane Plus were not detected (< 0.01 ng/g ww). In contrast, dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs) were frequently detected. The highest concentration was observed for PCBs, specifically PCB118 (up to 2,478 ng/g ww) and PCB105 (up to 977 ng/g ww). Wide-scope target screening of 2,236 compounds and suspect screening of 65,591 compounds were performed. Thirty-three contaminants from various chemical classes were detected through wide-scope target screening, of which 42% were pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and 30% were industrial chemicals (ICs) and their transformation products. An additional 55 compounds were identified through suspect screening, with PPCPs and ICs each accounting for 26 compounds. Most of the identified compounds are registered as REACH substances by the European Chemicals Agency, with some produced in very high volumes, exceeding 1,000,000 tonnes. Contaminant levels in Antarctic biota samples were lower than those reported in similar European studies, such as those conducted in the Danube River Basin.