Synergistic pharmaceutical interactions with nanoscale iron nitrides and natural organic matter

This repository contains data from the manuscript: Veselská, V., Kašlík, J., Baragaño, D., Simonneau, A., Thiebault, T., Petr, M., ... & Ratié, G. (2025). Synergistic pharmaceutical interactions with nanoscale iron nitrides and natural organic matter. Chemical Engineering Journal, 168285. Abstract Understanding how natural organic matter (NOM) shapes the environmental fate of reactive iron nitride nanoparticles (nFeN) is key to advancing sustainable remediation technologies. This study investigates the behavior and interactions of novel nFeN, and conventional nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), in complex and contrasting real-world aquatic environments: the pristine, organic-rich La Guette peatland and the wastewater-impacted Egoutier urban watershed in France. The study mainly focuses on their interplay with NOM and emerging pharmaceuticals (PPs). Field aging of nFeN produced mainly magnetite, akaganeite, and chukanovite (up to 31, 21, and 47 wt%, respectively), with site-specific mineral profiles shaped by DOC type, hydrodynamics, and microbial activity. Regarding PPs, under higher-flow conditions, nFeN outperformed nZVI, combined with DOC, retaining up to 96 ng g−1 venlafaxine, 83 ng g−1 oxazepam, 51 ng g−1 carbamazepine, 44 ng g−1 diazepam, 17 ng g−1 metoprolol and paracetamol, and 13 ng g−1 tramadol. Elevated log Kd (solid-liquid partition coefficient) values relative to log Koc (organic carbon to water partition coefficient) and log Kow (octanol-water partition coefficient) indicated that (i) interaction with NOM need to be considered for evaluating the PPs association with both Fe-based nanoparticles (NPs) and (ii) electrostatic interactions and ion exchange, rather than hydrophobicity, dominate cationic PPs binding by NPs. These findings highlight nFeN as a structurally robust yet environmentally responsive material for PP retention. The dataset also provides a valuable benchmark for designing nanocomposites incorporating nFeN, enabling evaluation of how porous supports alter its intrinsic performance under field conditions. The research was supported from ERDF/ESF project TECHSCALE (No. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004587). This study was also funded by the Barrande Mobility Project Nr. 8J22FR015 funded by the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) in France. This work was supported by the LabEx VOLTAIRE project (10-LABX-0100), funded by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Diego Baraga˜no would like to thank to the Government of the Principality of Asturias (ID/2024/000749). The authors also acknowledge the assistance provided by the Research Infrastructure NanoEnviCz, supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under Project No. LM2023066.