Abstract: Pharmaceuticals are very important due to their role in helping humans in many ways. People tend to flush these pharmaceuticals once they expire. Once flushed, it ends up in water ecosystems, which affects both the water and the different organisms that inhabit those environments. One organism that pharmaceuticals can affect is Chlorophyta, or better known as Green algae. Cetirizine and Loratadine, or more commonly referred to as Zyrtec and Claritin, are medicines used for allergy purposes that will be used for this study.
In this research study, numerous items were used. These items consisted of the Chlorophyta plant, the two pharmaceuticals (in serum form), a hood fume, pipettes, graduated cylinders, a beaker, test tubes, 1 1000mL wheaton bottle, 5 125mL wheaton bottles, water, and 5 250mL erlenmeyer flasks.
Concentrations (10%, 1%, .1%, .01%, 0%) of the pharmaceuticals were made by measuring 90mL of water and 10mL of each pharmaceutical. The Zyrtec concentrations were poured into 125mL wheaton bottles, while the Claritin concentrations were poured into 250 ml erlenmeyer flasks. 5mL of Chlorophyta was then pipetted into 45 test tubes to later have the concentration percents pipetted into them. Data was collected by using a spectrophotometer daily.
As a result, it is unclear whether the hypothesis was supported or not. For future research, it is recommended to use different pharmaceuticals, try a different type of algae, see what specific ingredients cause the medicine to affect the algae, etc.
Keywords: Chlorophyta, Cetirizine, Loratadine, Pharmaceuticals, Concentrations
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