Abstract
Tricresyl phosphate (TCP) is an organophosphorous neurotoxin that has been detected in water, soil and air. Exposure to TCP in cockpit and cabin air poses a severe threat to flight safety and the health of the aircraft cabin occupants. Conventional methods for the detection of TCP in various samples are gas or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, which are complex and expensive. To develop a simple low-cost methodology for the real-time monitoring of TCP in the environment, an effective catalyst is demanded for the hydrolysis of TCP under neutral condition. In this study, Ruthenium (III) hydroxide and Iron (III) hydroxide are found to facilitate the production of the alcoholysis and hydrolysis products of TCP, suggesting their role as a catalyst. With this finding, these metal hydroxides provide new potential to realize not only simple colorimetric or electrochemical detection of TCP, but also a simple detoxication strategy for TCP in environment. In addition, the catalytic capability of Ru (III) or Fe (III) hydroxide for TCP gives a hint that they can potentially serve as catalysts for the hydrolysis of alcolyolysis of many other organophosphate compounds.
Highlights
According to the World Health Report (2003) of the World Health Organization, each year 355,000 people worldwide are killed by unintentional poisonings [1]
The commercial Tricresyl phosphate (TCP) products consist of various isomers, in which tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (ToCP) has been proved most neuroxic due to its irreversible damage to a human’s peripheral nerve and spinal cord [2,3,4,5]
The high absorption at 298 nm of p-cresol compared to the low absorption of TCP in this wavelength could be utilized to monitor the production of p-cresol in the process of TCP decomposition
Summary
According to the World Health Report (2003) of the World Health Organization, each year 355,000 people worldwide are killed by unintentional poisonings [1]. The conventional methods for detection of TCP in various samples are gas or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry [27,28,29,30] These methods are expensive and complicated, and require bulky instruments operated by highly-trained persons, there is need for the development of methodology with lowcost portable devices for the real-time monitoring of TCP in samples. We explored the efficacy of Fe(OH) and Ru(OH) on the degradation of aryl phosphate-TCP These metal hydroxides with catalytic capability overcome the problems present in alkaline hydrolysis, and provide potential to realize simple colorimetric or electrochemical detection of TCP, and simple detoxication strategy for TCP in the environment
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