Publication details
Preparation and evaluation of porous microparticles for phosgene detection
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Introduction: Phosgene is a chemical warfare agent but also an important reagent used in the chemical industry. In the case of an industrial accident or when misused by terrorists, many people may be poisoned by this suffocating gas; therefore, rapid detection of its presence is important, for which easy-to-use detection tubes are suitable. This research is focused on porous carriers with high specific surface area, which could adsorb larger amounts of detection reagents and analytes, thus leading to higher sensitivity of the final detection tube. Methods: This work dealt with the preparation of porous microparticles from poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid by double emulsion solvent evaporation method with or without using a pore-forming agent. Different batches of microparticles were initially prepared and tested to optimize the preparation process, which aimed to increase the porosity and basicity of microparticles for better color reaction. The prepared batches of microparticles were impregnated with detection reagents 4-(p-nitrobenzyl)pyridine and N-phenyl-benzylamine. Samples were tested with acetyl chloride as a phosgene simulant, which was manifested by the coloring of microparticles. The obtained data from the detection were statistically analyzed using ANOVA. Selected samples were sent to Oritest spol. s r.o. and tested for the presence of diphosgene. Results: Porous microparticles were successfully prepared using a pore-forming agent. Their further modifications successfully increased the microparticles' porosity but, unfortunately, deformed their structure and agglutinated them together. These modifications had a statistically significant effect (p < 0,05) on the coloration of microparticles. Conclusion: All microparticles detected the presence of acetyl chloride, and all selected samples detected the presence of diphosgene. However, their sensitivity was not better than that of commercially available detection tube DT-12. |