Combinatorial Synthesis and Screening of Sensing Nanomaterial for Warfare Agents

The overall goal of the proposed program is to provide military personnel with a hand-held analyzer capable of detecting chemical and biological agents, as well as toxic industrial chemicals. This will be accomplished through the use of a newnanocomposite material (metal-doped sol-gel) that enhances analyte specific Raman signals sufficiently to allow identifying and quantifying agents at relevant concentrations (microgram/liter, part-per-billion). Phase I will employ combinatorial chemistryto synthesize four medium sized libraries of sol-gel coated sample vials varying in composition and properties (e.g. polar, non-polar, positive charge, negative charge) and screen their surface-enhanced Raman (SER) activity towards chemical simulants andpotential biological agent signatures. Baseline performance will be established using a high resolution, high sensitivity, hand-held Raman spectrometer.Phase II will automate the combinatorial synthesis and screening process to allow the generation oflarge sol-gel nanomaterial libraries to determine the chemical compositions that maximize detection of each chemical agent, bioagent signature chemical, and toxic industrial chemical by SER spectroscopy. Screening with actual agents will be performed atU.S. Army facilities. Finally, the sol-gel nanomaterial will be designed into sampling systems for discrete or continuous monitoring of air or water by a hand-held Raman analyzer capable of wireless data transmission.In addition to military personnel, theproposed technology would have immediate use in monitoring domestic water supplies (drinking and recreational) and detecting release of toxic chemicals at industrial plants. It would also be applicable to environmental analysis of groundwater (e.g.leaking agent storage facilities or pesticides from agricultural). The proposed SER active medium represents an enabling technology and is broadly applicable to pharmaceutical, biologic, medical, and chemical research.