RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences  Chemistry World
Chemical weapons cleanup  08 July 2009  Ned
Stafford/Hamburg, Germany  Researchers have found a safe, speedy
and environmentally friendly way to clean up chemical weapons
such as sulfur mustard, using a hydrogen peroxide-based
microemulsion decontamination system.  The UK-based research
team used a number of different techniques to measure and
analyse catalytic oxidative decontamination of sulfur mustard
(HD, bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide), a strictly controlled
substance used in chemical warfare agents stretching back to the
first world war.  One of the most practical ways to
decontaminate these toxic substances is to oxidise the sulphur
mustard to the sulfoxide with liquid decontaminants, but most
suitable oxidants are water-soluble while sulphur mustard is
water immiscible. This has been tackled in the past by using
micellar or oil-in-water microemulsions, but still leaves the
problem that most active liquid decontaminants are highly
corrosive and not e