Synthesis of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products and Pesticide Metabolites of Environmental Concern

Author

Isaiah EdwardsFollow

Date of Award

Spring 5-8-2020

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Biology

First Advisor

John Rimoldi

Second Advisor

Courtney Roper

Third Advisor

Kristine Willett

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Human pollution of aquatic environments by introduction of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) as well as agrichemicals presents a grave threat to the health of aquatic organisms. Many of these chemicals not only exhibit toxicity to the species of complex ecosystems at various levels but also undergo metabolic transformation into moieties that have different and sometimes more potent physiochemical profiles. PPCP and pesticides as well as their metabolites impact organisms via a number of different mechanisms, with the most serious arguably being endocrine disruption. Two emerging pollutants, gemfibrozil and bifenthrin, possess naturally occurring metabolites that were determined to warrant investigation for their toxicological and physiochemical properties. These metabolites exhibit markedly different pharmacological profiles from their parent compound. In order to facilitate the mission of investigating the unique properties of these metabolites, efficient synthesis protocols are required. The goal of this thesis was to perform and optimize the synthesis of both chlorinated and brominated adducts of gemfibrozil as well as the oxidative bifenthrin metabolite 4’-hydroxybifenthrin utilizing an organometallic oxidative approach. The halogenated gemfibrozil adducts were further used to support research that was ultimately submitted to the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Recommended Citation

Edwards, Isaiah, "Synthesis of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products and Pesticide Metabolites of Environmental Concern" (2020). Honors Theses. 1914.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1914

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.