CAPILLARY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF NERVE AGENTS USING LARGE-VOLUME INJECTIONS

The use of large volume injections has been studied for the verificati on of intact organophosphorus chemical warfare agents in water samples . As the use of ethyl acetate caused severe detection problems new pot ential solvents were evaluated. With the developed procedure, the nerv e agents sarin, tabun, soman, DFP and VX can be determined in freshly prepared water samples at ppt levels. Except for the nerve agent tabun all other agents added to the water samples were still present after 8 days at 20-60% levels, if the pH of the water sample is adjusted to ca. 5 shortly after sampling and adjusted to pH 7 for analysis.