HP8 Emerging Agents, Detection, and Emergency Response
Room 19A/B, Level 4
2:10 PM - 5:30 PM, Thursday, 13 November 2003
Chair: Presley, Steve ,
Co-chair: Scott, Geoff ,
(626) Prototype sensor for the detection of a nerve agent analog.
Boyd, J1, Southard, G2, Murray, G1, 2, Cobb, G1, 1 Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, U.S.A.2 The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT- A sensor prototype is presented for the detection of pinacolyl methylphosphonate, a hydrolysis product of the nerve agent soman. This sensor combines liquid core waveguide and molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) technologies. The waveguide consists of Teflon ®AF 2400 filled with dilute basic solution. The MIP incorporates a functionality-imprinted copolymer containing a coordinatively bound luminescent lanthanide ion. The analyte of interest (AOI), in this case soman, hydrolyzes under basic conditions within the waveguide to allow selective and reversible binding to the lanthanide complex of the MIP. The AOI-MIP complex is excited by an inexpensive light source in the 370-nm range and emits a narrow luminescence band in the 610-nm region of the lanthanide spectrum. The teflon waveguide propagates emitted light to a metal package photomultiplier for detection. Reversible binding of the hydrolysis product allows the sensor to be washed, ultimately resetting the sensor. Due to the inherent sensitivity and fast response time of the liquid core waveguide in conjunction with the selectivity of the MIP, this sensor has the potential to respond within seconds to a chemical release at or below the time-weighted average/airborne exposure limit (TWA/AEL), which is in the low part-per-trillion range for the nerve agents in question. The MIP alone is capable of responding to AOI in less than 10 seconds. We are currently evaluating the response time and detection limits of the complete sensor system.
Key words: nerve agent, sensor, molecularly imprinted polymer, Teflon ®AF