Organophosphorus Compounds in a Soil Sample

An interesting example deals with the identification of organophosphorus compounds in soil samples [13]. Such compounds can occur as degradation products of chemical weapons (CWs) in soil and other matrices. The convention for the prohibition of chemical weapons sets up procedures for the 

The H NMR spectra of the soil extract were run in the time-slice mode, i.e. the chromatographic run was stopped every 20 s and the NMR spectrum measured twice, with (a) and without (b) 31P decoupling. Processing of the data files led to the pseudo-on-flow NMR chromatograms. 

Comparison of the two pseudo-on-flow NMR chromatograms reveals that compounds 1,2 and 3 are organophosphorus compounds (Table 6.5), but only compounds 2 and 3 are phosphonates and related to chemical weapons. In fact, compound 2 is a degradation product of compound 3 

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