Aluminium sulfate and sodium aluminate buffer solutions for the destruction of phosphorus based chemical warfare agents

Abstract

Nerve agents VX and GB (sarin) are sequestered and removed by aluminium sulfate and sodium aluminate mixtures adjusted to pH 4 in solution. The products of hydrolysis are removed with the alum floc below NMR detection limits over time depending and the amount of aluminium molar excess relative to agent. Half-lives for GB decomposition are 3.1 h and 1.1 h, respectively, for a 120 and a 1200 molar excess. For VX, the half-lives are 8.5 d and 2.9 d for a 240 and a 5000 molar aluminium excess. In the case of GB, fluorine is sequestered as the hexafluoroaluminate ion. In the case of VX, no phosphorus containing hydrolysis products including the very toxic S-[2-(diisopropyl-amino)-ethyl]methylphosphonothiolate (EA-2192) are detected in the hydrolysate.