Antimicrobial Activity and Degradation Ability Study on Nanoparticle-Enriched Formulations Specially Designed for the Neutralization of Real and Simulated Biological and Chemical Warfare Agents

The present work reveals a comprehensive decontamination study on real and simulated biological and chemical warfare agents (BCWA). The emphasis was on evaluating the antimicrobial activity against real biological warfare agents, such as Bacillus anthracis, and also the capacity of neutralizing real chemical warfare agents, such as mustard gas or soman, by employing three different types of organic solutions enriched with ZnO, TiO2, and zeolite nanoparticles, specially designed for decontamination applications. The capacity of decontaminating BCWA was evaluated through specific investigation tools, including surface monitoring with the swabs method, minimum inhibitory (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) evaluations, time-kill tests for microorganisms, and GC-MS for monitoring chemical agents on different types of surfaces (glass, painted metal, rubber, and cotton butyl rubber). These tests revealed high decontamination factors for BCWA even after only 10 min, accomplishing the requirements imposed by NATO standards. At the completion of the decontamination process, the formulations reached 100% efficacy for Bacillus anthracis after 10–15 min, for soman after 20–30 min, and for mustard gas in an interval comprised between 5 and 24 h depending on the type of surface analyzed.

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Monitoring of hydrolysis products of mustard gas, some sesqui- and oxy-mustards and other chemical warfare agents in a plant material by HPLC-MS/MS

Journal of Chromatography B ◽

10.1016/j.jchromb.2020.122452 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1162 ◽

pp. 122452

Author(s):

Timur Baygildiev ◽

Mikhail Vokuev ◽

Arcady Braun ◽

Igor Rybalchenko ◽

Igor Rodin

Keyword(s):

Plant Material ◽

Chemical Warfare Agents ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Mustard Gas ◽

Hydrolysis Products ◽

Warfare Agents

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The Identification of Seven Chemical Warfare Mimics Using a Colorimetric Array

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s18124291 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 4291 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Michael Kangas ◽

Adreanna Ernest ◽

Rachel Lukowicz ◽

Andres Mora ◽

Anais Quossi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

21St Century ◽

Colorimetric Detection ◽

Chemical Warfare Agents ◽

Large Data ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Methylphosphonic Acid ◽

Mustard Gas ◽

Sensor Performance ◽

Warfare Agents

Chemical warfare agents pose significant threats in the 21st century, especially for armed forces. A colorimetric detection array was developed to identify warfare mimics, including mustard gas and nerve agents. In total, 188 sensors were screened to determine the best sensor performance, in order to identify warfare mimics 2-chloro ethyl ethylsulfide, 2-2′-thiodiethanol, trifluoroacetic acid, methylphosphonic acid, dimethylphosphite, diethylcyanophosphonate, and diethyl (methylthiomethyl)phosphonate. The highest loadings in the principle component analysis (PCA) plots were used to identify the sensors that were most effective in analyzing the RGB data to classify the warfare mimics. The dataset was reduced to only twelve sensors, and PCA results gave comparable results as the large data did, demonstrating that only twelve sensors are needed to classify the warfare mimics.

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Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry in Application to the Analysis of Gases and Vapours

Solid State Phenomena ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/ssp.223.283 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 223 ◽

pp. 283-290 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Mirosław Maziejuk ◽

Wiesław Lisowski ◽

Monika Szyposzyńska ◽

Tomasz Sikora ◽

Anna Zalewska

Keyword(s):

Ion Mobility Spectrometry ◽

Ion Mobility ◽

Chemical Warfare Agents ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry ◽

Alternating Electric Field ◽

Different Types ◽

Warfare Agents ◽

Industrial Compounds ◽

Alpha Function

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a technique used for the detection of chemical warfare agents (CWA), drugs, toxic industrial compounds (TIC), and explosives, when rapid detection should be performed (from a few to several seconds) for trace amounts of these substances. An important development of IMS technology is differential ion mobility spectrometry (DMS). DMS is also known as Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS). Detection possibilities of apparatus using the DMS method are based on the occurrence of the different mobilities of ions (K) in the alternating electric field. This dependence is characterized by the alpha function (α).This presentation shows methods and examples of the identification of chosen substances. The results for the dependence of coefficient α are specific for different types of substances. This specificity is used to identify vapours and gases.

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Fathoming chemical weapons in the Gotland Deep

Cultural Geographies ◽

10.1177/1474474017719069 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 631-638 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Astrida Neimanis ◽

Aleksija Neimanis ◽

Cecilia Åsberg

Keyword(s):

World War Ii ◽

Environmental Concern ◽

Chemical Warfare Agents ◽

Chemical Warfare ◽

Mustard Gas ◽

World War ◽

Deep Basin ◽

The Past ◽

Gotland Deep ◽

Warfare Agents

At the end of World War II, tens of thousands of tons of chemical warfare agents – mostly mustard gas – were dumped in the Gotland Deep – a deep basin in the middle of the otherwise shallow Baltic Sea. Decades later, these weapons are being reactivated – both literally (perhaps on the faces of dead seals, and in fishermen’s nets) and also in our imaginations. In this story that recounts the beginning of our research into this situation, militarization meets with environmental concern: the past floats into the present, where humans and non-humans are equally implicated, where the sea itself conditions the kinds of questions we can ask, and answers we might get, and where terms like ‘threat’ and ‘risk’ remain undecided. After spending time on Gotland Island – the closest terrestrial site to these weapons dumps – we ask what kinds of research methods might be adequate to these tangled, underwater tales that we find so difficult to fathom.

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