Nucleophilic Degradation of Chemical Warfare Agents Using Nonaqueous Decontamination Formula (vol 56, pg 14933, 2017)

The degradation or removal of chemical, biological, and radioactive contaminants is a supporting technique for homeland defense and countering terrorism. A highly efficient, noncorrosive, nonaqueous formula based on alkali, alcohol, and amine was developed for degradation of chemical warfare agents (CWAs). The optimized formula consisted of 50% ethanolamine, 9% benzyl alcohol, 2% KOH, 28% dimethyl sulfoxide, and 11% 18-crown-6-ether, based on the decontamination efficiency against mustard (HD). The experimental results suggested that the volume ratio of the nonaqueous decontaminant formula to CWA should be no less than 30, 2, and 10 for HD, soman (GD), and VX to achieve >99% in 30 min. The nonaqueous decontaminant can be used to decontaminate CWAs over a wide range of ambient temperature, especially low temperature. It was shown that the main degradation pathway of HD was hydrochloric acid (HCl) elimination to give chloroethyl vinyl sulfide. GD and VX degradation pathway involved P-F and P-S bond cleavage, leading to nucleophilic displacement reactions. The nonaqueous formula presented excellent performance toward decontaminate CWAs contaminated concrete, alkyd paint coatings, and military exposure suits. Corrosion of the formula to metal materials and alkyd paint coatings was much lower than that by DS-2 decontamination solution.