Two micellized ion complexes, Co(II) and Cr(III), were synthesized and found to possess good catalytic activity in cleaving the paraoxon/cobalt (chromate) complex phosphate ester. The complexes form metallomicelles, which bind the substrate by coordinating with the phosphorus in the paraoxon (which is chemically similar to the nerve agents sarin and soman). Possible reasons for the acceleration include enhanced electrophilicity of the micellized metals, enhanced surface activity, and the recognized ability of cationic micelles to accelerate the cleavage of phosphate ester. The results of kinetic data (half-lives) for paraoxon degradation were 16.5 and 28.9 min in the presence of Co(II) and Cr(III) metallomicelle layers, respectively. The higher the value of the stability constant, the more stable the Co(II) and Cr(III) complexes.Paper no. S1447 in JSD 8, 203-206 (April 2005).KEY WORDS: Catalytic destruction, Co(II) and Cr(III) metallomicelles, paraoxon, stability constant.Organophosphorus esters are used as insecticides and chemical warfare agents because of the ability of very low concentrations to inhibit the enzyme cholinesterase (1,2). Given the high toxicity of the nerve agents 1, 2, and 3 (Scheme 1), most research with phosphorolytic decontaminants utilizes models or simulants in place of these dangerous substrates. Paraoxon 4 would be a better simulant in terms of its hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance (3-6). Although fluorophosphonate nerve agents such as 2 and 3 are relatively easy to detoxify by P-F cleavage, destruction of the P-S nerve agent 1 is more difficult (7). Micellar catalysis has been extensively investigated for the past two decades; however, metallomicelles are made up of ligand surfactants and bound metal ions. The critical feature for the catalytic process is the metal cation that activates the hydroxyl nucleophile (8). Previous research on metallosurfactants includes Cu(II) (1,7-14), Zn(II) (2,8,9,15,16), Ni(II) (8,16,17), Ru(II) (18,19), and metallomicellar layers of Cu(II) and Fe(II) (20). This paper examines the effect of Co(II) and Cr(III) micellar layers on the hydrolysis of paraoxon.