Issue 13, 2020

A safe and compact flow platform for the neutralization of a mustard gas simulant with air and light

Abstract

A low footprint, mobile, robust and frugal chemical neutralization technology is reported for the oxidative neutralization of a mustard gas simulant. It relies on the inherent properties of a highly engineered continuous flow setup and carefully optimized and simple, yet robust, experimental conditions. The neutralization protocol uses only non-toxic, widely available and cheap chemicals. The continuous flow setup integrates a singlet oxygen generator and exploits its oxidative power to neutralize 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), the most common thioether mustard gas simulant. The flow reactor can be connected to either pressurized oxygen or air and handles CEES as a 1 M solution in EtOH containing a trace amount (0.06 mol%) of a non-toxic and widely available photosensitizer (Methylene Blue). Upon irradiation with visible light (orange or white light), total and highly selective neutralization towards the corresponding non-toxic sulfoxide (1-chloro-2-(ethylsulfinyl)ethane, CEESO) is obtained with reactor effluents containing less than 1% of the corresponding potentially toxic sulfone (1-chloro-2-(ethylsulfonyl)ethane, CEESO2). With a low footprint (L × W × H 94 × 42 × 40 cm), this neutralization technology can be equipped on a vehicle for on-site interventions, localized at a neutralization facility or both. This experimental work is also supported with the computational rationalization of the reactivity of CEES towards singlet oxygen.

Graphical abstract: A safe and compact flow platform for the neutralization of a mustard gas simulant with air and light

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
31 Mar 2020
Accepted
23 Apr 2020
First published
23 Apr 2020

Green Chem., 2020,22, 4105-4115

A safe and compact flow platform for the neutralization of a mustard gas simulant with air and light

N. Emmanuel, P. Bianchi, J. Legros and J. M. Monbaliu, Green Chem., 2020, 22, 4105 DOI: 10.1039/D0GC01142H

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