Detoxification of V-nerve agents assisted by a microperoxidase: new pathway revealed by the use of a relevant VX simulant

Abstract

The biocatalyzed oxidative detoxification of the V-series simulant PhX, by mean of the microperoxidase AcMP11, affords the corresponding phosphonothioate as the prominent product instead of the classical P-S and P-O bond cleavage. While PhX is structurally very close to the live agent VX (the methyl group is replaced by a phenyl), assessment with other surrogates missing the nucleophilic amino function displayed more resistance under the same conditions with no phosphonothioate observed. These encouraging results highlight 1) the efficacy of AcMP11 microperoxidase to efficiently detoxify V-series organophosphorus nerve agents (OPNA), and 2) the necessity to use representative alkyl or aryl phosphonothioates simulants such as PhX bearing the appropriate side chain as well as the P-O and P-S cleavable bond to mimic accurately the V-series OPNA to prevent false positive or false negative results.

Keywords: Chemical Warfare Agent; biocatalysis; organophosphorous nerve agent; remediation.