UiO-66, MOF-808 and NU-1000 metal–organic
frameworks exhibit a differentiated reactivity
toward [Mg(OMe)2(MeOH)2]4 related
to their pore accessibility. Microporous UiO-66 remains
unchanged while mesoporous MOF-808 and hierarchical micro/mesoporous NU-1000 materials yield doped systems containing exposed MgZr5O2(OH)6 clusters in the mesoporous cavities.
This modification is responsible for a remarkable enhancement of the
catalytic activity toward the hydrolytic degradation of P–F
and P–S bonds of toxic nerve agents, at room temperature, in
unbuffered aqueous solutions.
Sulfur mustard gas,
also called HD, is one of the main chemical warfare agents and has
claimed thousands of lives and left many more contaminated. The development
of functional materials to promptly capture and detoxify sulfur mustard
within a few minutes is extremely important to save the lives of the
affected people. This has motivated us to explore excellent detoxification
systems that can be deployed in the field to rapidly capture and hydrolyze
mustard gas in a short time. To that end, we present a silver-ion-exchanged
zeolite Y [(Ag+)
n
@Y, n = 5, 13, 21, 32, 43, and 55] that can rapidly capture
mustard gas and its simulant (2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide, CEES) in
ambient conditions to enable the prompt hydrolysis of the CEES captured
in its nanopores. The capture and hydrolysis ability of Ag+@Y positively correlated with its number of Ag+ ions.
In addition, 70% of CEES (2.5 μL in 1 mL) was captured by (Ag+)55@Y within 20 min at 25 °C in ambient conditions.
Moreover, 100% CEES (2.5 μL in 1 mL aqueous ethanol cosolvent)
was hydrolyzed in 1 min at 25 °C. The efficiency of Ag+@Y in capturing and hydrolyzing CEES as well as mustard gas is thus
a system with high detoxification efficiency for this dangerous chemical
warfare agent.
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