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Current
Organic Chemistry
ISSN: 1385-2728
Current Organic
Chemistry
Volume 11, Number 3, February 2007
Contents
Analytical Methods Capable of Sensing Biological and
Chemical Warfare Agents and their Degradation Products Based
on Bio Organic Chemistry
Guest Editor: Ji Hoon Lee
Editorial Pp.
239
Solid Phase Microextraction Combined
with Gas Chromatography- A Powerful Tool for the Determination
of Chemical Warfare Agents and Related Compounds
Pp. 241-253
Bogdan Zygmunt, Agnieszka Zaborowska, Joanna Swiatlowska and
Jacek Namiesnik
[Abstract]
Synthetic Methods Applied to the Detection of
Chemical Warfare Nerve Agents Pp. 255-265
Braden C. Giordano and Greg E. Collins
[Abstract]
The Development of New Structural Analogues of Oximes
for the Antidotal Treatment of Poisoning by Nerve Agents and
the Comparison of their Reactivating and Therapeutic Efficacy
with Currently Available Oximes Pp. 267-283
Jiri Kassa, Kamil Kuca and Lucie Bartosova
[Abstract]
Chemical Warfare Agent Degradation and Decontamination
Pp. 285-298
S.S. Talmage, A.P. Watson, V. Hauschild, N.B. Munro and
J. King
[Abstract]
General Article
Selective Hydrogenation of Aromatic Chloronitro Compounds
Pp. 299-314
Xiaodong Wang, Minghui Liang, Junling Zhang and Yuan Wang
[Abstract]
Abstracts
[Back to top]
Editorial
Organic and toxic chemicals may cause death,
temporary loss of performance or permanent injury in people
and animals. If toxic chemicals, their derivatives and synthetic
equivalents and toxins that are produced by living organisms
are used for military purposes, all of those chemicals can
be classified as chemical warfare agents.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the
anthrax incident shortly after in the USA, most people and
many governments around the world have shown increasing concern
that terrorist organizations may use chemical warfare agents
against military as well as civilian targets. Thus, currently,
innumerable research papers related to chemical warfare agents
have been published in various research fields including Organic
Chemistry.
The objective of the present issue (Title: “Analytical
methods capable of sensing biological and chemical warfare
agents and their degradation products based on bio-organic
chemistry”) of the Current Organic Chemistry
is to review recent research on chemical warfare agents from
the viewpoint of Organic Chemistry. This issue contains four
review articles written in four different research areas of
Organic Chemistry.
Zygmunt and his coauthors report the potentialities of solid
phase micro-extraction capable of sampling chemical warfare
agents in different matrices (e.g., air, water, urine, soil)
in the first chapter of this issue.
In the second chapter, Giordano and Collins describe a number
of analytical methods for sensing biological and chemical
warfare agents with a focus on those techniques which depend
on synthetic organic chemistry.
In the third chapter, Kassa and his coauthors introduce newly
developed analogues of commonly used oximes (e.g., pralidoxime,
obidoxime, trimedoxime, HI-6) and evaluate their potency to
counteract the acute toxicity of nerve agents.
Finally, in the fourth chapter, Talmage and his coauthors
review decontamination technologies of chemical warfare agents
(e.g., HD, VX, GA, GB, GD). Also, they discuss the toxicity
of the intermediate and final degradation products with chemical
decontamination pathways of each of the chemical warfare agents.
I thank all the authors of this issue for their contribution
and efforts. It is expected that this issue will be useful
to readers working in Organic Chemistry as well as other research
fields studying chemical warfare agents.
Ji Hoon Lee
Department of Biological Science/
Institute of Environmental Toxicology
Clemson University
USA
[Back to top]
Solid Phase Microextraction Combined
with Gas Chromatography- A Powerful Tool for the Determination
of Chemical Warfare Agents and Related Compounds
Bogdan Zygmunt, Agnieszka Zaborowska, Joanna Swiatlowska and
Jacek Namiesnik
Solid phase microextraction (SPME) is a very versatile,
convenient and simple technique of sample preparation for
chromatographic analysis. SPME finds increasingly wide acceptance
in the isolation and enrichment of chemical warfare agents
(CWAs) and their degradation products in air, water and other
liquid samples (e.g. urine), soil, clothing material, etc.
for their gas chromatographic (GC) determination. Until now,
typical commercially available fibers have mainly been used
for the extraction of CWAs in direct immersion and headspace
modes, although attempts were made to introduce new fiber
coatings, characterized by higher selectivity towards the
analytes of interest. The combination of SPME and GC enables
reaching low detection limits dependent on the analyte, matrix,
detection system, etc.; for example, single ppb for benzilic
acid in soil and nerve agents in aqueous samples and 200 ppb
for thiodiglycol, a degradation product of sulfur mustard.
[Back to top]
Synthetic Methods Applied to the Detection of
Chemical Warfare Nerve Agents
Braden C. Giordano and Greg E. Collins
Recent events as they relate to the war on terror make it
abundantly clear that the rapid detection of chemical warfare
nerve agents is essential. While the detection of these agents
clearly falls into the purview of the analytical chemist,
the importance of the organic chemist in the development of
new techniques or approaches remains intact. This review serves
to introduce the reader to a number of methods for detecting
nerve agents with a focus on those techniques which rely on
synthetic chemistry to improve overall performance with respect
to selectivity, sensitivity and analysis time.
[Back to top]
The Development of New Structural Analogues of Oximes
for the Antidotal Treatment of Poisoning by Nerve Agents and
the Comparison of their Reactivating and Therapeutic Efficacy
with Currently Available Oximes
Jiri Kassa, Kamil Kuca and Lucie Bartosova
Highly toxic organophosphorus inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase
referred as nerve agents are considered to be among the most
dangerous chemical warfare agents. The oximes represent very
important part of antidotal medical countermeasures. They
are used to reactivate the nerve agent-inhibited acetylcholinesterase.
Despite long-term research activities, there is no single,
broad-spectrum oxime suitable for the antidotal treatment
of poisoning with all organophosphorus agents. Therefore,
the development of new structural analogues of currently available
oximes should continue to increase the effectiveness of antidotal
treatment of poisoning by organophosphorus compounds. The
review describes the development of new structural analogues
of currently available oximes and the evaluation of their
potency to counteract the acute toxicity of some nerve agents
(tabun, cyclosarin) in comparison with commonly used oximes
(pralidoxime, obidoxime, trimedoxime, HI-6).
[Back to top]
Chemical Warfare Agent Degradation and Decontamination
S.S. Talmage, A.P. Watson, V. Hauschild, N.B. Munro and
J. King
The decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA) from
structures, environmental media, and even personnel has become
an area of particular interest in recent years due to increased
homeland security concerns. In addition to terrorist attacks,
scenarios such as accidental releases of CWA from U.S. stockpile
sites or from historic, buried munitions are also subjects
for response planning. To facilitate rapid identification
of practical and effective decontamination approaches, this
paper reviews pathways of CWA degradation by natural means
as well as those resulting from deliberately applied solutions
and technologies; these pathways and technologies are compared
and contrasted. We then review various technologies, both
traditional and recent, with some emphasis on decontamination
materials used for surfaces that are difficult to clean. Discussion
is limited to the major threat CWA, namely sulfur mustard
(HD, bis[2-chloroethyl]sulfide), VX (O-ethyl S-[2-diisopropylaminoethyl]
methylphosphonothioate), and the G-series nerve agents. The
principal G-agents are GA (tabun, ethyl N,N-dimethylphosphoramidocyanidate),
GB (sarin, isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate), and GD (soman,
pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate). The chemical decontamination
pathways of each agent are outlined, with some discussion
of intermediate and final degradation product toxicity. In
all cases, and regardless of the CWA degradation pathway chosen
for decontamination, it will be necessary to collect and analyze
pertinent environmental samples during the treatment phase
to confirm attainment of clearance levels.
[Back to top]
Selective Hydrogenation of Aromatic Chloronitro Compounds
Xiaodong Wang, Minghui Liang, Junling Zhang and Yuan Wang
Many effective strategies have been developed in
order to inhibit the hydrodechlorination in the selective
hydrogenation of chloronitrobenzenes to chloroanilines which
are important intermediates in the chemistry and industry
of dyes, herbicides, pesticides and medicines. However, hydrogenolysis
of the carbon-halogen bond as a defect of the hydrogenation
process could not be avoided completely over the metal catalysts
reported previously, especially at complete conversion of
the substrates. Recently we overcame this problem by the invention
of nanocomposite catalysts composed of noble metal nanoclusters
and inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles. Over these nanocomposite
catalysts, the hydrodechlorination of ortho-chloroaniline
was completely suppressed even at 100% conversion of ortho-chloronitrobenzene.
In this review, we deal with the great efforts and remarkable
contributions of different authors during the long exploration
for the solutions of this hard obstacle. Stress is placed
on supported metal catalysts and polymer-protected metal nanoclusters
or colloid catalysts.
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