Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: Many studies have shown the benefits deriving from plants secondary metabolites to human health also for the prevention of several diseases associated to oxidative stress including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. Nowadays there is a high attention on plant secondary metabolites and analytical techniques related to their identification and characterization. Conclusion: This review aims to report analytical procedures, instrumental configurations, and extraction approaches devoted to secondary metabolites analyses.

The present study shows the results of an experimental survey conducted over 34 months on 76 full-scale Wastewater Treatment Plants located in central Italy with the aim to determine the influent and effluent concentrations of 13 Organic Micropollutants belonging to the class of illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals and steroids. The survey focused on a large set of plants differing for the main characteristics (e.g. treatment capacity, type of lay-out).