Elimination of carbamazepine by repeated treatment with laccase in the presence of 1-hydroxybenzotriazole.

Carbamazepine (CBZP) is used as an antiepileptic drug and is highly persistent. In this study, CBZP was treated with laccase from white rot fungus Trametes versicolor in the presence of a redox mediator 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT). A single treatment with laccase and HBT eliminated CBZP by about 22% after 24h, and repeated treatments with laccase and HBT, which were added to the reaction mixture every 8h, helped eliminate about 60% of CBZP after 48h. This suggests that repeated treatment is effective in eliminating CBZP. Mass spectrometric analyses demonstrated that two degradation products of CBZP, 10,11-dihydro-10,11-epoxycarbamazepine and 9(10H)-acridone, were formed via repeated treatment with laccase and HBT.