Chemical warfare agents, destruction

J.M. McAndless35 has reported on recent Canadian experience in chemical warfare agent destruction, in Project SWIFTSURE. 

McAndless, J.M., "Public Consultation During A Chemical Warfare Agent Destruction Project", Suffield Special Publication No. 169, September 1993. 

In order to identify compounds especially with unknown structure (which are often formed during the process of chemical warfare agents destruction) we use the precision and highly automatized devices (NMR-spectroscopy on nuclei of phosphorus-32 and fluorine-19, IR-spectroscopy with Furrier transform) as well as data processing methods, decode and interpret analytical information. It is also important to use information retrieval and expert systems. 

In conclusion we would like to discuss some prospects of development of chemical control over the chemical warfare agents destruction and appropriate equipment. Note only some of these possibilities ... 

This chapter includes four indices the Alphabetical index, the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) numbers index, the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) numbers index, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons key (OPCW) numbers index. OPCW numbers are found in the "Handbook on Chemicals, version 2002," Appendix 2 in Declaration Handbook 2002 for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. OPCW numbers were developed to provide an easy method for tracking chemical warfare agents and precursors if CAS numbers were not available. 

Military Activities Syndrome Environmental destruction through war and military action Loss of biodiversity due to chemical warfare agents, permanent soil degradation due to mining, contamination caused by fuels and explosives, health hazards, greater flows of refugees... 

Laboratory studies indicate that aquathermolysis can be used to aid in the remediation of waste oils, chromium (Cr VI) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in contaminated soils and aquifers. Aquathermolysis is particularly useful in lowering the viscosity of oil and increasing its mobility to facilitate further treatment. Potential applications range from treating household and industrial refuse to destruction of chemical warfare agents. 

Madsen JM (2001) Toxins as weapons of mass destruction. A comparison and contrast with biological-warfare and chemical-warfare agents. Clin Lab Med 21 593-605... 

Superheated and supercritical water are used in several applications. Supercritical water is most often used in the destruction of organic wastes, including some chemical warfare agents, as an alternative to incineration (Katritzky et al., 1996 Sherman et al., 1998). Recent reports describe the use of both forms as a solvent and as a reactant in synthetic chemistry (Katritzky et al., 1996 An et al., 1997). Some of the reactions investigated include metal-mediated alkyne cyclizations, Pd-catalyzed al-kene arylations, aldol reactions, the Fischer indole synthesis, and hydrolysis reactions. Waterborne coatings and the destruction of wastes in supercritical water are fully... 

The basic experimental studies of the interactions between organophosphorus compounds and metal oxide surfaces have been carried out intensively during the last several years. Metal oxides, such as MgO, AI2O3, FeO, CaO, Ti02 a-Fe203, ZnO, and WO3, are currently under consideration as destructive adsorbents for the decontamination of chemical warfare agents [46, 47], For example, several studies have addressed adsorption of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) (a widely used model compound for the simulation of interactions of phosphate esters with a surface) on the surface of these metal oxides [48-60], In most of these works, the authors have observed that, at first, DMMP is adsorbed molecularly via hydrogen... 

Direct electrolytic dechlorination of 9-chloroanthracene at a mercury electrode occurs at about -1.65 V (see) in a layer of adsorbed cetyltrimethylammonium bromide on the electrode surface233. Similarly, electrochemical degradation of trichloroethylene in acetonitrile resulted in quantitative conversion to chloroacetylene, which was reduced further to acetylene at a more negative reduction potential (-2.8 V) in 96% yield234. Reductive destruction of 1,3,5-trichlorobenzene in the cathode compartment could be observed235. Electrochemical methods presumably can be used for decontamination of chemical warfare agents such as mustard derivatives as an alternative to the chemical methods such as base-catalyzed dehydrohalogenation236. 

E. M. Lucas, and K. J. Klabunde, Nanocrystals as destructive adsorbants for mimes of chemical warfare agents, Nanostruct. Mater. 12, 179-182 (1999). 

Regarding the destruction of chemical weapons, the Director-General reported that, as of May 2005, possessor States Parties had destroyed approximately 11,700 tonnes of chemical warfare agents - representing about 17 per cent of the total declared stockpiles. ... 

More recently, microemulsions have been developed for the oxidative/hydrolytic destruction of sulfanes sulfoxides) and phosphoric acid derivatives using sodium hypochlorite and cetyl-trimethylammonium chloride (CTAC). The compounds studied serve as model compounds for chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas [bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfane] and sarin (GB i-propyl-methylphosphonofluoridate). Big stocks of these must now be destroyed after implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which came into force in April 1997 [865],... 

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