Gon Ryu Sam, Wan Lee Hae
a Agency for Defense Development , Daejeon , South Korea.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2015;50(14):1417-27. doi: 10.1080/10934529.2015.1071155. Epub 2015 Sep 1.
The nerve agent, O-ethyl S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl] methylphosphonothioate (VX) must be promptly eliminated following its release into the environment because it is extremely toxic, can cause death within a few minutes after exposure, acts through direct skin contact as well as inhalation, and persists in the environment for several weeks after release. A mixture of hydrogen peroxide vapor and ammonia gas was examined as a decontaminant for the removal of VX on solid surfaces at ambient temperature, and the reaction products were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (NMR). All the VX on glass wool filter disks was found to be eliminated after 2 h of exposure to the decontaminant mixtures, and the primary decomposition product was determined to be non-toxic ethyl methylphosphonic acid (EMPA); no toxic S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl] methylphosphonothioic acid (EA-2192), which is usually produced in traditional basic hydrolysis systems, was found to be formed. However, other by-products, such as toxic O-ethyl S-vinyl methylphosphonothioate and (2-diisopropylaminoethyl) vinyl disulfide, were detected up to 150 min of exposure to the decontaminant mixture; these by-products disappeared after 3 h. The two detected vinyl byproducts were identified first in this study with the decontamination system of liquid VX on solid surfaces using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide vapor and ammonia gas. The detailed decontamination reaction networks of VX on solid surfaces produced by the mixture of hydrogen peroxide vapor and ammonia gas were suggested based on the reaction products. These findings suggest that the mixture of hydrogen peroxide vapor and ammonia gas investigated in this study is an efficient decontaminant mixture for the removal of VX on solid surfaces at ambient temperature despite the formation of a toxic by-product in the reaction process.
神经毒剂O-乙基硫代磷酰-S-[2-(二异丙基氨基)乙基]酯（VX）一旦释放到环境中必须立即清除，因为它毒性极强，接触后几分钟内就能致人死亡，可通过皮肤直接接触和吸入起作用，并且释放后会在环境中持续存在数周。研究了过氧化氢蒸汽和氨气的混合物作为在室温下去除固体表面VX的去污剂，并通过气相色谱-质谱联用仪（GC-MS）和核磁共振光谱仪（NMR）对反应产物进行了分析。发现玻璃棉滤盘上的所有VX在接触去污剂混合物2小时后都被清除，主要分解产物被确定为无毒的乙基甲基膦酸（EMPA）；未发现传统碱性水解系统中通常会产生的有毒的S-[2-(二异丙基氨基)乙基]甲基硫代膦酸（EA-2192）。然而，在接触去污剂混合物长达150分钟时检测到了其他副产物，如有毒的O-乙基硫代磷酰-S-乙烯基甲酯和（2-二异丙基氨基乙基）乙烯基二硫化物；这些副产物在3小时后消失。在本研究中，首次在使用过氧化氢蒸汽和氨气混合物对固体表面的液态VX进行去污的系统中鉴定出了这两种检测到的乙烯基副产物。基于反应产物，提出了过氧化氢蒸汽和氨气混合物在固体表面产生的VX详细去污反应网络。这些发现表明，尽管在反应过程中会形成有毒副产物，但本研究中所研究的过氧化氢蒸汽和氨气混合物仍是一种在室温下有效去除固体表面VX的去污剂混合物。
