Lloret, LucíaEibes González, Gemma MaríaLu Chau, Thelmo AlejandroMoreira Vilar, María TeresaFeijoo Costa, GumersindoLema Rodicio, Juan Manuel2025-01-292025-01-292010-09-15L. Lloret, G. Eibes, T.A. Lú-Chau, M.T. Moreira, G. Feijoo, J.M. Lema, Laccase-catalyzed degradation of anti-inflammatories and estrogens, Biochemical Engineering Journal, Volume 51, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 124-131, ISSN 1369-703X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bej.2010.06.005.1369-703Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10347/39259Pharmaceuticals are regarded as emerging environmental pollutants since many of them are ubiquitous, recalcitrant and biologically active. In this paper, the degradation of several pharmaceuticals such as anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac and naproxen) and estrogen hormones (estrone, 17β-estradiol, 17α-ethinylestradiol) was assessed by means of the commercial laccase (Lac) from Myceliophthora thermophila. The influence of different mediators (synthetic and natural) and their concentration on the Lac-based oxidation system were evaluated. Estrogens were completely degraded after only 15 min while the other types of pharmaceuticals presented higher persistence since 1 h of incubation was required for total removal of diclofenac and 8 h to attain up to 60% of naproxen degradation. Among the different natural mediators, syringaldehyde greatly enhanced the action of the Lac, similarly to the synthetic mediator 1-hydroxibenzotriazole (HBT) in the case of estrogens and diclofenac. The other natural mediators presented significantly high efficiency, obtaining removal percentages ranging from 80% to 100% after 24 h of enzymatic reaction.engAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/LaccaseEstrogensAnti-inflammatoriesNatural mediatorsPHMyceliophthora thermophilajournal article10.1016/j.bej.2010.06.0051873-295Xopen access