Supramolecular solvent extraction of drugs and pharmaceuticals in indoor dust from public buildings.

Recent research has confirmed the presence of drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals in indoor dust, indicating a significant route of exposure to these compounds. This information is still limited which highlights the need for further quantitative research to estimate the human exposure, potential health risks and sources of contamination. This study aims to validate a simple and fast method for the analysis of these substances using supramolecular solvents (SUPRAS) followed by liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). With this method we quantified drugs of abuse and pharmaceuticals and estimated the daily exposure by dust ingestion in various workplaces (43 samples from bars and restaurants, pharmacies, educational buildings, social buildings, and other types of buildings from Spain). Ten pharmaceuticals, eleven drugs of abuse and related compounds, and two stimulants (nicotine and caffeine) were found at concentrations ranging from 0.015 to 17.5 μg ·g-1 (detection frequency, DF: 2.2-100 %), from 0.011 to 10.7 μg ·g-1 (DF: 2.2-97.8 %), and from 0.35 to 5397 μg ·g-1 (DF: 97.8-100 %), respectively. The mean exposure via dust intake (adults, 30 mg·day-1) was 0.17-0.37 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for pharmaceuticals, 0.036-0.42 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for drugs, and 3.39-150.21 ng·kg bw-1·day-1 for stimulants. Based on these results, future studies should consider dust as an additional source of drug and pharmaceutical exposure to estimate real health risks.