Azithromycin and clarithromycin degradation products generated in heterogeneous fenton process using copper-containing magnetites and titanomagnetites as catalysts

• Grant number: 22/07727-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: October 03, 2022
• End date: April 02, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Raquel Fernandes Pupo Nogueira
• Grantee: Matheus Gabriel Guardiano dos Santos
• Supervisor: Davide Vittorio Vione
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Università degli Studi di Torino (UNITO), Italy
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/06348-5 - Degradation kinetics of azithromycin and clarithromycin present in sewage effluents by heterogeneous photo-Fenton process, BP.MS

Abstract

The presence of antibiotics in sewage treatment plants after conventional treatment has become a public health issue these contaminants can cause bacterial resistance. This project expands the work underway on the degradation kinetics of the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process of two recalcitrant macrolide antibiotics: azithromycin (AZT) and clarithromycin (CLA). Studies already developed have shown the instability of these pharmaceuticals in acidic media, the formation of complexes with transition metals, and consequently difficulties in the detection and monitoring of these pharmaceuticals and its degradation products. This proposal focuses on identification of AZT and CLA degradation products and pathways using modified magnetites as catalysts. Understanding the degradation pathway of this class of antibiotic still little explored is important to correlate structural and antimicrobial activity changes that undergo during the treatment. Furthermore, it is the evaluation of the degradation kinetics of AZT and CLA in an effluent from sewage treatment from the city of Turin, Italy. The studies will be developed in collaboration with the research group of Prof. Davide Vione from the University of Turin, who has broad experience in the synthesis of modified magnetites and studies of occurrence and transformations of macrolides in the environment. (AU)