Organophosphate nerve agents inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), which is involved in nerve signal transduction, by forming covalent adducts with its catalytic serine residue. AChE adducts with soman and sarin nerve agents undergo dealkylation, a process known as aging, within a few minutes and a few hours, respectively. This transformation is detrimental because it precludes reacti...

The enhanced degradation of organophosphorous-based chemical warfare agents (CWAs) on metal-oxide surfaces holds immense promise for neutralization efforts; however, the underlying mechanisms in this process remain poorly understood. We utilize large-scale quantum calculations first time to probe high-temperature diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP), a nerve agent simulant. Our Born-Oppenheimer...

Final Report: Theoretical Studies of Oxygen Reduction and Proton Transfer in SOFCs and Nerve Agents on Selected Surfaces Report Title Using theoretical and computational chemistry methods, we have studied the oxygen reduction and proton transfer in molten carbonate salts related to solid oxide fuel cells, and adsorption of nerve agents of sarin on surfaces of CaO, graphene and graphane. The mec...

A novel 31P NMR method for the determination of purity for the military nerve agents sarin, soman, and VX has been developed. In contrast to more conventional quantitative NMR methods, stem coaxial inserts are placed into the sample tube to introduce reference material into the analysis without mixing or reaction with the analyte. All sample preparation is eliminated, and the analysis is comple...

Although recent innovations in transient plant systems have enabled gram quantities of proteins in 1-2 weeks, very few have been translated into applications due to technical challenges and high downstream processing costs. Here we report high-level production, using a Nicotiana benthamiana/p19 system, of an engineered recombinant human acetylcholinesterase (rAChE) that is highly stable in a mi...

Nerve agents pose a threat to the respiratory tract with exposure that could result in acute compromised lung performance and death. The determination of toxicity by inhalation is important for the rational development of timely therapeutic countermeasures. This study was designed to deliver aerosolized dilute nerve agents in a dose-response manner to investigate the extent of lethality of nerv...

BACKGROUND Coalition bombings on the night of 18-19 January 1991, early in the Gulf War, targeted the Iraqi chemical weapons infrastructure. On 19 January 1991, nerve agent alarms sounded within Coalition positions hundreds of kilometers to the south, and the trace presence of sarin vapor was identified by multiple technologies. Considering only surface dispersion of plumes from explosions, off...

The nerve agents soman, sarin, VX, and tabun are deadly organophosphorus (OP) compounds chemically related to OP insecticides. Most of their acute toxicity results from the irreversible inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the enzyme that inactivates the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. The limitations of available therapies against OP poisoning are well recognized, and more effective anti...

Intoxication by organophosphate (OP) nerve agents and pesticides should be addressed by efficient, quickly deployable countermeasures such as antidotes reactivating acetylcholinesterase or scavenging the parent OP. We present here synthesis and initial in vitro characterization of 14 imidazole aldoximes and their structural refinement into three efficient reactivators of human butyrylcholineste...

Organophosphates are powerful inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase, which is critical to nerve function. Despite continuous research for detecting the highly toxic organophosphates, a new and improved methodology is still needed. Herein we demonstrate simple-to-fabricate chemiresistive gas sensors using conducting-polymer polypyrrole (PPy) nanotube transducers, which are chemically specific and c...