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Fiber-optic-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors for the detection of toxic nerve agents

Analytical instruments capable of detecting nerve agents in battlefield conditions where speed, accuracy and ease of operation are a must in today's military. Fast detection and decontamination of nerve agents in very low concentrations is the primary focus of our research. The method presented here focuses on optimizing polymer stabilized sensing elements on the surface of SPR fiber-optic probes. A number of polymers & polymer supported metal complexes capable of reversibly binding to the species of interest & which have robust operation in hostile environments are incorporated with the fiber optic sensing elements. An optical technique, such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), better suited to rapid data collection without sample pretreatment is employed. The approach using polymer-based optical fibers with off-the-shelf SPR system components has been tested for the detection of Pinacolyl methylphosphonate (PMP), a simulant for nerve agent Soman. Surface initiated polymeric sensors have higher sensitivity toward detecting PMP than bulk-polymerized sensors.