The deployment of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) has presented the need for protective gear that instantaneously detects and functionally responds to the threat. Thus, smart materials that both colorimetrically indicate and physically respond to the presence of CWAs are highly desired. We have designed CWA-responsive copolymers derived from dithienobenzotropone that can be prepared by direct arylation polymerization or ring-opening metathesis polymerization. These polymers ionize and planarize upon exposure to organophosphonate nerve agent mimics, providing colorimetric detection and altering the material's vapor transport rates by hydrogel collapse. We also investigate the application of these dithienobenzotropone derivatives as real-time transducing agents in carbon nanotube-based amperometric sensors.

Dithienobenzotropone: A chemical warfare agent-responsive building block

248th National Meeting (2014)

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