Catalytic ozonation of the antibiotic sulfadiazine: reaction kinetics and transformation mechanisms

In this work, ozone has been used to study the transformation of the antibiotic sulfadiazine (SDZ). SDZ and its transformation products was investigated using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and using NMR. The results revealed that 6% of SDZ is transformed into 2-aminopyrimidine. A significant amount of SDZ undergoes a rearrangement reaction followed by ring-closing reactions. One of these products, SDZ-P15, is the main product after 240 min of ozonation. Almost 30% of SDZ transforms into SDZ-P15. SDZ was also transformed via the addition of one or more hydroxyl groups, via the oxidation of an amine group to a nitro group as well as via a bond cleavage reaction. Most of the intermediate products presented in this study have not previously been reported as SDZ transformation products formed using ozonation technology.