Rapid chemical agent identification by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Although the Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical warfare agents (CWAs), the use of these agents persists due to their low cost, simplicity in manufacturing and ease of deployment. These attributes make these weapons especially attractive to low technology countries and terrorists. The military and the public at large require portable, fast, sensitive, and accurate analyzers to provide early warning of the use of chemical weapons. Traditional laboratory analyzers such as the combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, although sensitive and accurate, are large and require up to an hour per analysis. New, chemical specific analyzers, such as immunoassays and molecular recognition sensors, are portable, fast, and sensitive, but are plagued by false-positives (response to interferents). To overcome these limitations, we have been investigating the potential of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to identify and quantify chemical warfare agents in either the gas or liquid phase. The approach is based on the extreme sensitivity of SERS demonstrated by single molecule detection, a new SERS material that we have developed to allow reproducible and reversible measurements, and the molecular specific information provided by Raman spectroscopy. Here we present SER spectra of chemical agent simulants in both the liquid and gas phase, as well as CWA hydrolysis products.