Determination of Trace Amounts of G-Nerve Agents and other Toxic Compounds using Chemical Derivatization and LC-MS Analysis

Avi Weissberg, IIBR, ness ziona, Israel (aviwe@iibr.gov.il)
Moran Madmon, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Tamar shami-yamin, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Hagit Prihed, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Avital Shifrovich, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Merav Blanca, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Shai Dagan, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel
Chen Belay, Iibr, Ness Ziona, Israel

Chemical warfare agents are extremely toxic compounds applied as weapons of mass destruction. Among the chemical nerve agents, G-nerve agents are one of the most toxic family. The highly toxic nerve agent Sarin has been used in several armed conflicts and terror attacks in recent decades e.g., in the Tokyo subway attack in 1995 and more recently during the Syria civil war.  The typical battlefield contamination level is expected to be at the microgram scale, hours after an attack; a concentration that can be easily handled by GC-MS. However, there are several scenarios in which the nerve agents will be presented at trace levels. This is because they dissociate rapidly over time to their acid degradation products, and therefore, GC-MS detection is becoming a challenging task. This study presents how chemical derivatization can be utilized to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity of several toxic compounds (G-nerve agents and other toxic compounds) utilizing LC-MS analysis.