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Antipsychotic (AP) drugs are becoming accumulated in terrestrial and aqueous resources due to their actual consumption. Thus, the search of methods for assessing the contamination load of these drugs is mandatory. The COD is a key parameter used for monitoring water quality upon the assessment of the effect of polluting agents on the oxygen level. Thus, the present work aims to assess the chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels of several typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs in order to obtain structure-activity relationships. It was implemented the titrimetric method with potassium dichromate as oxidant and a digestion step of 2 h, followed by the measurement of remained unreduced dichromate by titration. After that, an automated sequential injection analysis (SIA) method was, also, used aiming to overcome some drawbacks of the titrimetric method. The results obtained showed a relationship between the chemical structures of antipsychotic drugs and their COD values, where the presence of aromatic rings and oxidable groups give higher COD values. It was obtained a good compliance between the results of the reference batch procedure and the SIA system, and the APs were clustered in two groups, with the values ratio between the methodologies, of 2 or 4, in the case of lower or higher COD values, respectively. The SIA methodology is capable of operating as a screening method, in any stage of a synthetic process, being also more environmentally friendly, and cost-effective. Besides, the studies presented open promising perspectives for the improvement of the effectiveness of pharmaceutical removal from the waste effluents, by assessing COD values.

A qualidade das aprendizagens dos alunos nas aulas de Ciências Físicas pode melhorar se a mediação do professor atribuir um papel fundamental ao envolvimento produtivo dos alunos. A partir de narrações sobre a mediação do professor em contexto de sala de aula, analisou-se o envolvimento dos alunos nas aulas de Ciências Físicas, o esforço do professor para induzir esse envolvimento, bem como indicadores de produtividade dos alunos. Com base nas evidências empíricas obtidas, elaborou-se uma proposta de ferramenta de trabalho, adaptável, para apoiar os professores na identificação de indicadores do envolvimento produtivo dos seus alunos na disciplina e de possíveis modos de os professores envolverem os alunos na disciplina de modo produtivo.