Biotransformation of the Antiviral Drugs Acyclovir and Penciclovir in Activated Sludge Treatment

The biotransformation of the two antiviral drugs, acyclovir (ACV) and penciclovir (PCV), was investigated in contact with activated sludge. Biodegradation kinetics were determined, and transformation products (TPs) were identified using Hybrid Linear Ion Trap- FT Mass Spectrometry (LTQ Orbitrap Velos) and I (H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR) and 2D (H-1, H-1-COSY, H-1-C-13-HSQC) NMR Spectroscopy. ACV and PCV rapidly dissipated in the activated sludge batch systems with half-lives of 5.3 and 3.4 h and first-order rate constants in relation to the amount of suspended solids (SS) of 4.9 +/- 0.1 L g(ss)(-1) d(-1) and 7.6 +/- 0.3 L g(ss)(-1) d(-1) respectively. For ACV only a single TP was found, whereas eight TPs were identified for PCV. Structural elucidation of TPs exhibited that transformation only took place at the side chain leaving the guanine moiety unaltered. The oxidation of the primary hydroxyl group in ACV resulted in the formation of carboxy-acyclovir (Carboxy-ACV). For PCV, transformation was more diverse with several enzymatic reactions taking place such as the oxidation of terminal hydroxyl groups and beta-oxidation followed by acetate cleavage. Analysis of different environmental samples revealed the presence of Carboxy-ACV in surface and drinking water with concentrations up to 3200 ng L-1 and 40 ng L-1, respectively.