Chemical Warfare Agents Simulants (Cwas) Detection: Fiber Optic Coupled Grazing Angle Probe-Ftir

Since September 11, 2001 the world focuses their attention to the possibility of use of chemical and biological threat agents by terrorist organizations directed against troops and/or civilians. Countering future attacks requires a wide array of detection capabilities for range of potential deployment scenarios. For verification of the past presence of CWA it is necessary to detect these compounds or their degradation products on the surfaces on which they have settled or condensed ESI has been used for the detection of CWAs in water, but the ability of Grazing Angle Probe-FTIR to detect CWAs and their degradation products deposited on surfaces has not been investigated. This paper focuses on the measurement of spectroscopic signatures of Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants (CWAs) using vibrational spectroscopy. Fiber Optics Coupled-Grazing Angle Probe-FTIR were used to characterize the spectroscopic information of target threat agents. 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (2-CEES), dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP), triethylphosphate (TEP), di-isopropylmethyphosphonate (DIMP) were detected on a stainless steel surface. Limits of detection (LOD) achievable could be as low as nanograms/cm2 (milligrams/m2). For the four CAWs analyzed, 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (2-CEES) has the lowest limit of detection with 5.1 ug/cm2. Comparison of the Fiber Coupled-GAP-FTIR spectra obtained with KBr cell spectra measured in a bench instrument it can be concluded they identical. This methodology can be applied for detecting CWA on surfaces such as metals, plastics, glass, wood and others. Other application of the technique in the area of chemical agents is in surface decontamination and cleaning validation of these highly toxic and polluting compounds.