The present invention provides methods and compositions for detecting, identifying and measuring the abundance of chemical nerve agents. Methods and compositions of the present invention are capable of providing selective detection of phosphorous based nerve agents, such as nerve agents that are esters of methyl phosphonic acid derivatives incorporating a moderately good leaving group at the phosphorus. Selectivity in the present invention is provided by a sensor composition having an alpha (α) effect nucleophile group that undergoes specific nucleophilic substitution and rearrangement reactions with phosphorus based nerve agents having a tetrahederal phosphorous bound to oxygen. The present invention includes embodiments employing a sensor composition further comprising a reporter group covalently linked to the alpha effect nucleophile group allowing rapid optical readout of nerve agent detection events, including direct visual readout and optical readout via spectroscopic analysis.
本发明提供了用于检测、识别和测量
化学神经毒剂丰度的方法和组合物。本发明的方法和组合物能够选择性地检测基于
磷的神经毒剂,例如酯化了在
磷上具有中等良好离去基团的
甲基膦酸衍
生物的神经毒剂。本发明中的选择性是通过具有α效应亲核基团的传感器组合物提供的,该亲核基团与
磷基神经毒剂发生特定的亲核取代和重排反应,其中
磷与氧结合形成四面体
磷。本发明包括采用传感器组合物的实施例,该传感器组合物进一步包括与α效应亲核基团共价连接的报告基团,允许对神经毒剂检测事件进行快速光学读数,包括直接视觉读数和通过光谱分析的光学读数。