Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are fatal to humans. Although
various
materials have been reported to show excellent performance in the
neutralization and chemical decontamination of CWAs, it is difficult
to directly compare their performances because they have been evaluated
under different reaction conditions. In this study, the conversion
rates achieved and products obtained for various CWAs upon reaction
with different homogeneous chemical solutions (acting as neutralizers)
under the same conditions are systematically examined using gas chromatography.
The results allowed for identification of the chemicals that exhibit
excellent neutralization performances for the various CWAs, while
also providing fundamental kinetic data that can be used to predict
the tendencies of the reactions between CWAs and other chemicals.
The results also show that each chemical solution exhibits different
strengths and weaknesses in terms of their reactivities toward the
targeted CWAs, the time required to achieve complete neutralization,
and the toxicities of the products produced during the neutralization
reactions. Based on the obtained results, it is expected that the
efficient compositional design of neutralizers and decontaminants
will be possible, and the development of materials exhibiting superior
performances should also be facilitated.