Formulation of L-Gel Decontaminating Agent and Investigation of its Active Ingredient (Oxone) Reaction with Mustard Simulants

Abstract
“L-Gel” is a decontamination reagent that is effective both against chemical warfare (CW) and biological warfare (BW) agents. This reagent consists of an aqueous solution, Oxone, together with a fumed silica gelling agent Cab-O-Sil EH-5. L-Gel is relatively inexpensive, non-toxic, environmentally friendly, relatively non-corrosive, requires simple delivery system and maximizes contact time due to its thixotropic nature. Experiments to achieve optimized formulation for L-Gel were conducted. Different mixtures of Oxone and Cab-O-Sil were prepared and their viscosity and density were measured. The final optimized formulation of gel included 1.0M aqueous solution of Oxone gelled with 15% W/W of Cab-O-Sil EH-5. A stirring time of 30 minutes was achieved after which viscosity of gel increased over time. To be suitable for decontamination of chemical warfare agents, this formulation should be less viscous and stirred well before use. The effective agent for decontamination is Oxone, in which active ingredient is potassium peroxymonosulfate "KHSO5". The reaction mixture was analyzed by GC and 1H NMR for HD simulants. In 3 minutes, Methyl phenyl sulfide (MPS) was converted to methyl phenyl sulfoxide and methyl phenyl sulfone as decontamination products with a higher reaction rate while chloro ethyl phenyl sulfide (CEPS) was decontaminated with a lower rate leading to chloro ethyl phenyl sulfone in 2 hours.