Uptake and bio-transformation of telmisartan by cress (Lepidium sativum) from sewage treatment plant effluents using high-performance liquid chromatography/drift-tube ion-mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In the present study, the uptake and metabolization of the sartan drug telmisartan by a series of plants was investigated. Thereby for seven potential metabolites, modifications on the telmisartan molecule such as hydroxylation and/or glycosylation could be tentatively identified. For two additional signals detected at accurate masses m/z 777.3107 and m/z 793.3096, no suggestions for molecular formulas could be made. Further investigations employing garden cress (Lepidium sativum) as a model plant were conducted. This was done in order to develop an analytical method allowing the detection of these substances also under environmentally relevant conditions. For this reason, the knowledge achieved from treatment of the plants with rather high concentrations of the parent drug (10 mg L(−1)) was compared with results obtained when using solutions containing telmisartan in the μg - ng L(−1 )range. Thereby the parent drug and up to three tentative drug-related metabolites could still be detected. Finally cress was cultivated in water taken from a local waste water treatment plant effluent containing 90 ng L(−1) of telmisartan and harvested and the cress roots were extracted. In this extract, next to the parent drug one major metabolite, namely telmisartan-glucose could be identified. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-021-14289-4.