Fluoroquinolones and Sulfonamides in the Aquatic Environment

Dear Colleagues,

Fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides are antibiotics widely used for the treatment of infectious diseases. These compounds and their metabolites are frequently found in environmental water. The presence of fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides in the aquatic environment increases the dissemination of antibiotic-resistant genes, which contributes to the global threat of antimicrobial resistance. In this context, environmental monitoring and surveillance of these organic pollutants are crucial to assess the environmental risk and support governmental action plans. The development and validation of methodologies for different water matrices are still challenging due to the complexity and variable composition of water samples. Sample preparation is a key step in the analytical procedure to eliminate matrix interferences and to preconcentrate the target analytes. Several works have focused on the development of sample pretreatment strategies, such as pressurized liquid extraction, QuEChERS, microextraction, magnetic extraction, solid-phase extraction, and stir bar sorptive extraction. In addition, different materials (e.g., ionic liquids, molecularly imprinted polymers, covalent frameworks, carbon-based and magnetic materials) have been studied as sorbents in sample preparation techniques. Concerning the methods of detection, great efforts have been made to develop fast, cost-effective, green, and miniaturized strategies for the environmental monitoring of fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides. New trends comprise the implementation of chemical and biochemical sensors, molecular spectroscopy techniques, fluorimetry and chemometrics. Hence, we are pleased to invite you to submit original research articles and review papers addressing the topic of surveillance of fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides in the environment and novel analytical procedures for the quantification of these compounds in water matrices.

Prof. Marcela A. Segundo
Dr. Patricia Peixoto
Guest Editors

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• Antibiotics
• Fluoroquinolones
• Sulfonamides
• Environmental samples
• Sample preparation
• Miniaturized devices
• Extraction
• Sorbents
• Spectroscopy
• Sensors