This report is a comprehensive review of current analytical methods and instrumentation for the detection and quantitative estimation of the principal chemical agents bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide (mustard, HD), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and VX, as well as their numerous transformation products. The focus is on isolation of the target compounds from a variety of environmental and physiological matrices, and separation and verification of their presence by combinations of state-of-the-art chromatographic and spectrometric procedures. Of the 75 references listed (peer review journal publications or books), only 7 were published prior to 1987, and the vast majority date from 1990 or later.

This book describes nerve agents and vesicants, their decomposition and their degradation products' chemistry as well as their toxicity including a list of detection techniques of nerve agents and their degradation products. This book will present their history, toxicity, comparison between different sample preparation methods, separation techniques, and detection methods all together in a short, easy to read book, tied together by a single group doing the writing and the editing to assure smooth transition from chapter to chapter, with sufficient Tables and literature references for the reader who looks to further detail.The text will illustrate the pluses and minuses of the various techniques with sufficient references for the reader to obtain extensive detail.

Ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention by more than 165 States Parties has reduced the risk of chemical warfare agent use, but there still remains a concern that other parties may make use of these weapons against civilian or military targets. Concerns within the defense and homeland security communities over possible terrorist use as well as the requirements for a verifiable Chemical Weapons Convention have driven the development of analytical methods such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for the detection and identification of chemical warfare agents. This paper provides a general overview of chemical warfare agents and analytical methods for their analysis, a focused review of LC-MS applications, a summary of in-house LC-MS methods developed at DRDC Suffield, and a comprehensive bibliography of analytical open literature papers dealing with chemical warfare agent detection and identification. The review sections provide the homeland security and defense communities with an overview of chemical warfare agents and analytical methods for their determination. Researchers interested in developing new methods for chemical warfare agents may use the reviewed material to quickly ascertain the state of development of analytical methods, in particular LC-MS methods, for chemical warfare agents. The reviewed materials will be used for reference purposes during the development of high field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) mass spectrometry, a new analytical technique with the potential to rapidly separate and identify chemical warfare agents. The report concludes with 67 references. Appendix A is a 454-item bibliography of open literature analytical methods for the detection and identification of chemical warfare agents, their degradation products, and related compounds. Paper copies of each paper are held at DRDC Suffield and this comprehensive database of methods continues to be updated regularly using Procite software.

One of the major problems associated with the disposal of chemical weapons is that the agents have degraded over time, some quite seriously. Detecting and identifying the products of this decomposition are necessary prerequisites to the safe, complete and environmentally benign destruction of stockpiled weapons. The book presents and discusses both basic and novel techniques in a variety of areas of analytical chemistry which are relevant to achieving the ultimate destruction of chemical weapons. Presentations address sample collection and preparation, mass spectrometry, chromatographic techniques, NMR, and air monitoring techniques. The work shows that analytical methods do exist to effectively support the destruction of chemical munitions. While further research is needed, the book provides an excellent baseline for further advances in the field.

The first edition of this book, Chemical Warfare Agents: Toxicity at Low Levels, was published just prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Reflecting a greater sense of urgency within the field of chemical defense since this event, research related to chemical warfare agents (CWAs) continues to expand at a remarkable pace.

Since Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Gulf War veterans have expressed concerns about health effects that could be associated with their deployment and service during the war. Although similar concerns were raised after other military operations, the Gulf War deployment focused national attention on the potential, but uncertain, relationship between the presence of chemical and biological (CB) agents and other harmful agents in theater and health symptoms reported by military personnel. Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces which is one of the four two-year studies, examines the detection and tracking of exposures of deployed personnel to multiple harmful agents.

A "dip and shoot" analytical method was developed for the rapid sampling and desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometric (DESI-MS) analysis of chemical warfare agents and their hydrolysis products in liquid samples. Sampling was performed by simply dipping fused silica, stainless steel or SPME tips into the organic or aqueous samples. Replicate analyses were completed within several minutes under ambient conditions with no sample pre-treatment, resulting in a significant increase in sample throughput over conventional solid phase microextraction (SPME) sampling and DESI-MS analysis or liquid chromatographic electrospray ionization mass spectrometric (LC-ESI-MS) analysis. The developed sample handling and analysis method was applied to the determination of chemical warfare agent content in samples containing unknown chemical and/or biological warfare agents. Ottawa sand was spiked with mustard, extracted with water and autoclaved to ensure sterility. Mustard was completely hydrolysed during the extraction/autoclave step and thiodiglycol was identified by DESI-MS, with analyses generally being completed within one minute using the "dip and shoot" method developed for the rapid analysis of liquid samples.

Chemical Warfare Agents, Second Edition has been totally revised since the successful first edition and expanded to about three times the length, with many new chapters and much more in-depth consideration of all the topics. The chapters have been written by distinguished international experts in various aspects of chemical warfare agents and edited by an experienced team to produce a clear review of the field. The book now contains a wealth of material on the mechanisms of action of the major chemical warfare agents, including the nerve agent cyclosarin, formally considered to be of secondary importance, as well as ricin and abrin. Chemical Warfare Agents, Second Edition discusses the physico-chemical properties of chemical warfare agents, their dispersion and fate in the environment, their toxicology and management of their effects on humans, decontamination and protective equipment. New chapters cover the experience gained after the use of sarin to attack travellers on the Tokyo subway and how to deal with the outcome of the deployment of riot control agents such as CS gas. This book provides a comprehensive review of chemical warfare agents, assessing all available evidence regarding the medical, technical and legal aspects of their use. It is an invaluable reference work for physicians, public health planners, regulators and any other professionals involved in this field. Review of the First Edition: "What more appropriate time for a title of this scope than in the post 9/11 era? ...a timely, scholarly, and well-written volume which offers much information of immense current and...future benefit." —VETERINARY AND HUMAN TOXICOLOGY

This volume summarises the materials presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Sea-Dumped Chemical Munitions, held in Kaliningrad (Moscow Region), Russia, in January 1995. The conference was sponsored by the NATO Division of Scientific and Environmental Affairs in the framework of its outreach programme to develop co-operation between NATO member countries and the Cooperation Partner countries in the area of disarmament technologies. The problem of the ecological threat posed by chemical weapons (CW) dumped in the seas after the Second World War deserves considerable international attention: the amount of these weapons, many of them having been captured from the German Army, is assessed at more than three times as much as the total chemical arsenals reported by the United States and Russia. They were disposed of in the shallow depths of North European seas - areas of active fishing - in close proximity to densely populated coastlines, with no consideration of the long-term consequences. The highly toxic material have time and again showed up, for instance when retrieved occasionally in the fishing nets, attracting local media coverage only. Nevertheless, this issue has not yet been given adequate and comprehensive scientific analysis, the sea-disposed munitions are not covered by either the Chemical Weapons Convention or other arms control treaties. In fact, the problem has been neglected for a long time on the international level. Only recently were official data made available by the countries which admitted conducting dumping operations.