Chemical Weapon

As a kind of novel and persistent environmental pollutants, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been frequently detected in different aquatic environment, posing potential risks to public health and ecosystems, resulting in a biosecurity issue that cannot be ignored. Therefore, in order to control the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment, advanced oxidation technology (such as Fenton-like, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis) has become an effective weapon for inactivating and eliminating ARB and ARGs...

A-series agent A-234 belongs to a new generation of nerve agents. The poisoning of a former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in March 2018 led to the inclusion of A-234 and other A-series agents into the Chemical Weapons Convention. Even though five years have already passed, there is still very little information on its chemical properties, biological activities, and treatment options with established antidotes. In this article, we first assessed A-234 stability in neutral pH for subsequent experiments...

The microsynthesis of 32 dialkyl derivatives of ethylphosphonic acid and the same number of monoalkyl derivatives was carried out to perform comparative studies using gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry in chemical ionization mode which is one of the analytical techniques recommended by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The huge number of possible representatives makes it difficult to have complete spectral libraries of all substances in this class. Therefore, we decided to synthesize and instrumentally analyze only representatives of the selected series of homologues in this work...

Despite the international convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons ratified in 1997, the threat of conflicts and terrorist attacks involving such weapons still exists. Among these, organophosphorus-nerve agents (OPs) inhibit cholinesterases (ChE) causing cholinergic syndrome. The reactivation of these enzymes is therefore essential to protect the poisoned people. However, these reactivating molecules, mainly named oximes, have major drawbacks with limited efficacy against some OPs and a non-negligible ChE inhibitor potential if administered at an inadequate dose, an effect that they are precisely supposed to mitigate...

Bacterial infection has always accompanied human beings, causing suffering and death while also contributing to the advancement of medical science. However, the treatment of infections has become more complex in recent times. The increasing resistance of bacterial strains to antibiotics has diminished the effectiveness of the therapeutic arsenal, making it less likely to find the appropriate empiric antibiotic option. Additionally, the development and persistence of bacterial biofilms have become more prevalent, attributed to the greater use of invasive devices that facilitate biofilm formation and the enhanced survival of chronic infection models where biofilm plays a crucial role...

PURPOSE: Riot Control Agents (RCAs) are chemicals used in law enforcement for non-lethal riot control and use in conflicts between states that violates the Chemical Weapons Convention. OPCW's Scientific Advisory Board has identified sixteen potential RCAs including capsaicinoids, CS, and CR. RCAs may be misused for criminal purposes, so methods for detecting such misuse are needed. This study therefore evaluates the feasibility of a rapid, high throughput screening method of RCAs on surfaces (particularly clothing surfaces) by Direct Analysis in Real Time with a thermal desorption unit coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-TD-HRMS)...

Nanoscale carbon was obtained from six widely used plastics (PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP and PP) via thermal degradation (600 °C) under inert atmosphere. The thermally degraded products were processed through bath sonication followed by lyophilisation and the same was characterized through proximate analysis, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Transmission electron micrograph (TEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)...

During the last few years Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) have become one of the most active and very promising therapeutic weapons. Lessons learned from the traditional chemical conjugations (via lysine or cysteine residues of the antibodies) and the clinical studies of the developed ADCs have recently paved the way to the improvement of the conjugation technologies. Use of site-specific conjugation is considered as the promising path for improving the design and development of homogeneous ADCs with controlled Drug-Antibody ratio (DAR)...

To overtake competitors, microbes produce and secrete secondary metabolites that kill neighboring cells and sequester nutrients. This natural product-mediated competition likely evolved in complex microbial communities that included viral pathogens. From this ecological context, we hypothesized that microbes secrete metabolites that "weaponize" natural pathogens (i.e., bacteriophages) to lyse their competitors. Indeed, we discovered a bacterial secondary metabolite that sensitizes other bacteria to phage infection...

BACKGROUND: Microbial insecticides are an important weapon in insect pest management, but their use is still relatively limited. One approach for increasing their efficacy and use could be to combine different pathogens to increase pest mortality. However, little is known about whether increasing pathogen diversity will improve pest management. Here, we investigated the compatibility of two pathogens for the management of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni, T. ni nucleopolyhedrovirus (TniSNPV) and the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, on two crops, tomato and broccoli...

Chemical attribution is a vital tool to attribute chemicals or related materials to their origins in chemical forensics via various chemometric methods. Current progress related to organophosphorus nerve agents (OPNAs) has mainly focused on the attribution of chemical sources and synthetic pathways. It has not yet been applied in matching exposed biological samples to their sources. This work used chemical attribution to explore organic impurity profiles in biological samples exposed to various OPNAs. Chemical attribution was first used to identify the exposure source of biological samples based on the full-scan data via comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC × GC-TOFMS)...

Memory effect in firearms that is, the possibility for a weapon to release inorganic particles whose elemental composition depends on its entire shooting history, is responsible for most of the interpretation difficulties encountered in forensic gunshot residue analysis. The presence of residues chemically inconsistent with the last discharged round, the creation of particles having unusual elemental profiles, and the dependence of residue population composition on the collection point are all manifestations of memory effect...

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are a pollutant treatment design inspired by natural wetlands and are widely utilized for the removal of common pollutants. The research focus lies in the circulation of manganese (Mn) in the environment to enhance pollutant removal within CWs. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent advancements in understanding the role and effects of Mn in chemical weapons, based on literature retrieval from 2002 to 2021. Ecological risk assessment and heavy metals within CWs emerge as current areas of research interest...

Nerve agents (G- and V-series) are a group of extremely toxic organophosphorus chemical warfare agents that we have had the opportunity to encounter many times on a massive scale (Matsumoto City, Tokyo subway and Gulf War). The threat of using nerve agents in terrorist attacks or military operations is still present, even with establishing the Chemical Weapons Convention as the legal framework. Understanding their environmental sustainability and health risks is critical to social security. Due to the risk of contact with dangerous nerve agents and animal welfare considerations, in silico methods were used to assess hydrolysis and biodegradation safely...

Vaccines are widely regarded as one of the most effective weapons in the fight against infectious diseases. Currently, vaccines must be stored and transported at low temperatures as high temperatures can lead to a loss of vaccine conformation and reduced therapeutic efficacy. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), such as zeolitic imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8), are a new class of hybrid materials with large specific surface areas, high loading rates, and good biocompatibility and are successful systems for vaccine delivery and protection...

Chlorine gas (Cl2 ) has been repeatedly used as a chemical weapon, first in World War I and most recently in Syria. Life-threatening Cl2 exposures frequently occur in domestic and occupational environments, and in transportation accidents. Modeling the human etiology of Cl2 -induced acute lung injury (ALI), forensic biomarkers, and targeted countermeasures development have been hampered by inadequate large animal models. The objective of this study was to develop a translational model of Cl2 -induced ALI in swine to understand toxico-pathophysiology and is suitable for screening potential medical countermeasures, and identify biomarkers useful for forensic analysis...

Toolmark and Firearm examiners' opinions have fallen under scrutiny as inadmissible ballistics evidence has led to the possibility of wrongful convictions and cold cases that could have been solved with the presence of a physical bullet, casing, and/or weapon at the crime scene. This research provides a solution for subjective-based conclusions and the absence of physical evidence altogether. Analysis of bullet material using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) has distinguished bullet composition between manufacturers from a surface scratch...

We herein present for the first time the phosphylated (*) tetrapeptide (TP)-adduct GlyGluSer198* Ala generated from butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) with proteinase K excellently suited for the verification of exposure to toxic organophosphorus nerve agents (OPNA). Verification requires bioanalytical methods mandatory for toxicological and legal reasons. OPNA react with BChE by phosphonylation of the active site serine residue (Ser198 ) forming one of the major target protein adducts for verification. After its enzymatic cleavage with pepsin, the nonapeptide (NP) PheGlyGluSer* AlaGlyAlaAlaSer is typically produced as biomarker...

Scientists are constantly researching and launching potential chemotherapeutic agents as an irreplaceable weapon to fight the battle against cancer. Despite remarkable advancement over the past several decades to wipe out cancer through early diagnosis, proper prevention, and timely treatment, cancer is not ready to give up and leave the battleground. It continuously tries to find some other way to give a tough fight for its survival, either by escaping from the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs or utilising its own chemical messengers like cytokines to ensure resistance...

Alkylphosphonofluoridic Acids (APFA) are the major thermal degradation products of G- and A-series nerve agents and thus play a vital role in the verification analysis of Chemical Weapons Convention. Present study focuses on the development of sample clean-up, derivatization procedures and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometric analysis of APFA in aqueous samples. APFA were found to be much more delicate than the corresponding alkylphosphonic acids and thus required subtle optimizations. Retention of analytes on silica and polymer-based anion exchangers followed by elution under alkaline conditions yielded best recoveries...