Cleaning up after nerve agents

A new decontamination agent devised by US chemists can deactivate toxic chemicals such as nerve agents and pesticides leaving only non-toxic, easily disposable by-products, according to research in the New Journal of Chemistry.The work could lead to cheaper and more effective cleanup of contaminated sites such as chemical weapons stockpiles.

Existing methods for destroying nerve agents, such as treatment with bleach, are limited. Nerve agents in chemical weapons are often found as chemical mixtures, and bleach reacts indiscriminately - even explosively - with many chemicals such as propellants. It is also corrosive to other materials and surfaces.

Other approaches such as alkaline hydrolysis have several drawbacks, including low solubility and slow reaction rates. Furthermore some decontamination methods give by-products, such as thioic acids, which are almost as toxic as the original nerve agent.

Now David Atwood from the University of Kentucky and Daniel Williams from Kennesaw State University and co-workers have developed a destruction method based on dealkylating agents. The result is that organophosphate-based nerve agents and pesticides can now be cleaved in a single reaction.