Air oxidation of sulfur mustard gas simulants using a pyrene-based metal-organic framework photocatalyst

Ghada Ayoub; Mihails Arhangelskis; Xuan Zhang; Florencia Son; Timur Islamoglu; Tomislav Friščić; Omar K Farha

doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.232

Air oxidation of sulfur mustard gas simulants using a pyrene-based metal-organic framework photocatalyst

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2019 Dec 9:10:2422-2427. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.10.232. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Ghada Ayoub^{1

2}, Mihails Arhangelskis¹, Xuan Zhang², Florencia Son², Timur Islamoglu², Tomislav Friščić¹, Omar K Farha^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 0B8, Canada.
² International Institute of Nanotechnology, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
³ Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Rd, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

Abstract

We demonstrate a microporous metal-organic framework NU-400 based on a 2,7-disubstituted pyrene linker as a highly efficient photosensitizer for generating singlet oxygen and subsequent oxidative degradation of chemical warfare agents (CWAs). The high activity of NU-400 permits photocatalytic conversion of the 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) mustard gas simulant into a benign sulfoxide derivative, in air, with less than 15 minutes' half-life. This is a considerable improvement to NU-1000, based on a 1,3,6,8-tetrasubstituted pyrene unit, demonstrating how variation of the substitution pattern of a metal-organic framework linker permits modification of its photoactive behavior.

Keywords: metal-organic frameworks; oxidation; photocatalysis; singlet oxygen; sulfur mustard gas.