Detection performance of Dräger safety gas detection tube for chemical warfare agents

Abstract

The detection performance of Dräger safety gas detection tubes for chemical-warfare agents was investigated using authentic compounds. "Phosphoric esther" tubes gave limit of detection (LOD) values of 0.002 (sarin), 0.02 (soman), 0.5 (tabun) and 2.0 (VX) mg/m3 with about 5 min of operation. "Thioether" tubes gave an LOD value of 1.2 mg/m3 (mustard gas) after about 2 min of operation. "Organic arsenic compounds and arsine" tubes gave an LOD of 3.8 mg/m3 (lewisite 1) after about 2 min of operation. "Hydrogen cyanide" tubes gave an LOD of 0.3 mg/m3 (HCN) with less than 1 min of operation. "Cyanogen chloride" tubes gave an LOD of 0.75 mg/m3 (ClCN) with about 3 min of operation. False positive detection was also observed for various simulants. © 2007 The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.