Affinity chromatography in environmental analysis and drug-protein interaction studies

This dissertation will examine the use of novel affinity sorbents to extract emerging contaminants from water. These contaminants include carbamazepine, an anti-epileptic drug which is resistant to natural degradation in the environmental and to drinking water treatment procedures. This drug has been found in fish, drinking water, estuarine and coastal waters, and river sediment and has been used as a general marker of contaminants in wastewater. Carbamazepine was one of the most commonly detected compounds in surface-water and groundwater samples in a recent reconnaissance study of untreated drinking water sources in the U.S. Besides using this drug as a representative contaminant for testing albumin-based extraction methods, other sections of this dissertation will include a discussion of the combination of on-line immunoextraction using anti-carbamazepine antibodies with RPLC/MS. Research will be presented involving the use of this method with molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to extract emerging contaminants from water. Other studies in this dissertation will include the use of serum protein columns to not only retain drugs but to provide chiral separations. This approach will be used to examine the retention of some chiral drugs by the serum protein α1-acid glycoprotein. Another part of this dissertation will include a discussion of how chromatographic theory can be used to describe the binding and extraction behavior of albumin columns when used to retain emerging contaminants. In addition, it will be shown how the same types of protein columns can be used to examine the kinetics of drug-protein interactions. Possible future directions for this work will also be discussed