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Solar photodegradation of irinotecan in water: optimization and robustness studies by experimental design

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Abstract

Irinotecan, a widely prescribed anticancer drug, is an emerging contaminant of concern that has been detected in various aquatic environments due to ineffective removal by traditional wastewater treatment systems. Solar photodegradation is a viable approach that can effectively eradicate the drug from aqueous systems. In this study, we used the design of experiment (DOE) approach to explore the robustness of irinotecan photodegradation under simulated solar irradiation. A full factorial design, including a star design, was applied to study the effects of three parameters: initial concentration of irinotecan (1.0–9.0 mg/L), pH (5.0–9.0), and irradiance (450–750 W/m2). A high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC–HRMS) system was used to determine irinotecan and identify transformation products. The photodegradation of irinotecan followed a pseudo-first order kinetics. In the best-fitted linear model determined by the stepwise model fitting approach, pH was found to have about 100-fold greater effect than either irinotecan concentration or solar irradiance. Under optimal conditions (irradiance of 750 W/m2, 1.0 mg/L irinotecan concentration, and pH 9.0), more than 98% of irinotecan was degraded in 60 min. With respect to irradiance and irinotecan concentration, the degradation process was robust in the studied range, implying that it may be effectively applied in locations and/or seasons with solar irradiance as low as 450 W/m2. However, pH needs to be strictly controlled and kept between 7.0 and 9.0 to maintain the degradation process robust. Considerations about the behavior of degradation products were also drawn.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 765860 (AQUAlity).

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Author notes

  1. The last authorship is shared by Claudio Medana and Elisa Robotti.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sciences and Technological Innovation, University of Piemonte Orientale, Viale T. Michel 11, 15121, Alessandria, Italy

    Masho Hilawie Belay, Emilio Marengo & Elisa Robotti

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, P. O. Box 231, Mekelle, Ethiopia

    Masho Hilawie Belay

  3. Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 5, 10125, Turin, Italy

    Federica Dal Bello & Claudio Medana

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 5, 10125, Turin, Italy

    Debora Fabbri

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  1. Masho Hilawie Belay
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Contributions

MHB: investigation, methodology, formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review and editing. FDB: data curation, formal analysis, and writing—review and editing. EM: conceptualization, software, writing—review and editing, and funding acquisition. DF: TOC analysis and writing—review and editing. CM: methodology, validation, writing—review and editing, and supervision. ER: conceptualization, software, writing—review and editing, supervision, and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Federica Dal Bello.

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Belay, M.H., Dal Bello, F., Marengo, E. et al. Solar photodegradation of irinotecan in water: optimization and robustness studies by experimental design. Photochem Photobiol Sci 22, 761–772 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43630-022-00350-9

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