Scientists at U.S. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Forensic Science Center (FSC) has developed a new approach for detecting chemical weapons.

According to its developers, the new approach can detect pinacolyl alcohol (PA), which is a unique marker for the nerve agent Soman, in environmental samples. Nerve agents like Soman decompose in the environment, leaving behind low concentrations of possible markers that are difficult to detect — even with powerful instruments. As such, the team sought to identify trace evidence of a specific marker for a chemical weapon in environments where more abundant organic and inorganic chemicals present in the matrix.

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“It is our duty as a Lab not only to provide evidence, if any, for the use of a chemical weapon, but to provide all the analytical evidence to support our findings and in the process support OPCW‘s efforts in building a case against an alleged perpetrator,” the team said.

For Soman specifically, the team explained that pinacolyl alcohol is a central marker, which is both necessary for the synthesis of the nerve agent and a by-product of its degradation. Because the alcohol is not a natural chemical but synthetic in origin, it is reportedly a unique marker for this highly toxic nerve agent. Consequently, when it is detected in an environmental sample collected from an area of a suspected chemical attack, its presence suggests the past use of the nerve agent.

Yet, due to its low molecular weight, PA’s analysis and identification using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) tends to be difficult, even at elevated levels. Likewise, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis is not typically feasible due to the chemical not possessing ionizable properties.

To remedy this, the team has developed an approach for the conversion of PA into a species that can be detected by both GC-MS and LC-MS — which is currently not possible.

The team suggests that this approach promises to strengthen the evidentiary case in chemical weapons investigations.