Chemical warfare, particularly nerve agents, continue to be a major threat facing U.S. military forces. Current detection methods exhibit high-threshold, low-sensitivity and inability to differentiate within classes of known agents. Therefore, access to more selective, affordable, and durable nerve agent detectors would be beneficial. Research conducted in this study aims to synthesize derivatives of rhodamine-B and fluorescein as colorimetric indicators of nerve agent simulants. The sensitivity upon exposure to a nerve agent simulant, diethylchlorophosphate, (DCP), was characterized by fluorescence spectroscopy. Rhodamine-B and fluorescein derivatives synthesized in this study have displayed promising characteristics as a potential nerve agent detector. Future research aims at developing even more reactive variants of the dye capable of a more rapid reaction to nerve agents in order to produce a more practical product for field expedient applications.

Derivatives of rhodamine-B and fluorescein as colorimetric sensors for nerve agent simulant

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.