Nerve agents gases

General supportive care should be provided as outlined above. Extra precautions should be taken to ensure that rescuers and health care providers are not poisoned by exposure to contaminated clothing or skin. This is especially critical for the most potent substances such as parathion or nerve gas agents. Antidotal treatment consists of atropine and pralidoxime (see Table 58-4). Atropine is an effective competitive inhibitor at muscarinic sites but has no effect at nicotinic sites. Pralidoxime given early enough is capable of restoring the cholinesterase activity and is active at both muscarinic and nicotinic sites. 

Figure 11. 22 Colorimetric detection of nerve gas agents by oximate formation. The spectra show the progress of the reaction by the disappearance of ther /r —> tt band at 461 nm and the appearance of the product absorption at 413 nm through an isosbestic point indicating clean conversion (reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry).

General Atomics U.S. Army IN, USA Bulk VX nerve gas agent hydrolysis, chemical agents, explosives, 949 kg h Commissioned 1999 (pilot plant 2000-2001)... 

Sarin is a human-made nerve (gas) agent used in chemical warfare. It is an irreversible cholinesterase inhibitor. 

Pyridostigmine bromide (PB), administered to troops to protect against injury by nerve gas agents. 

Detalac Automatic Detector of Nerve gas agents Environmental Vapor Monitor (EVM)... 

Destruction and decontaminalon of phosphonothioale and phosphorothioale nerve gas agents... 

Nerve gas agents that interfere with the action of acetylcholinesterase enzyme essential for nerve function. These are primarily organophosphate compounds, including sarin, VX, and Russian VX. A total of 13 people died and about 6000 sought medical help from a 1995 attack with sarin on the Tokyo subway system. 

Zhu, Z., Deng, S.X., Macdonald, J., et al, 2008. Autophosphorylating peptides as the scavengers of nerve gas agents. 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting, New Orleans, USA, 6-8 April. Conference Abstract. 

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