Detection performance of chemical warfare agent with portable aspiration-type ion mobility spectrometer

Abstract

The detection performance of a portable aspiration-type ion mobility spectrometer (ChemPro100, Environics) was investigated with nerve gases, blister agents, blood agents and related compounds. The vapors of sarin, soman, tabun were recognized as "Nerve (nerve gas)" after about 10-20 s sampling, and the detection limits were below 0.1 mg/m 3. The vapors of mustard gas and lewisite 1 were recognized as "Blister (blister agent)" after about 10-20 s sampling, and the detection limits were several mg/m 3. The gases of hydrogen cyanide and cyanogen chloride were not recognized as "Blood (blood agent)". The vapors of nerve gas simulants, such as dimethylmethylphosphonate and N,N-dimethylformamide, were recognized as "Nerve", and the vapors of blister agent simulants, such as 2-chloroethylethylsulfide, ethanol, toluence and chloroform, were recognized as "Blister". The other solvents were recognized as "Unknown chemical". © 2006 The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.