Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are fatal to humans. Although various materials have been reported to show excellent performance in the neutralization and chemical decontamination of CWAs, it is difficult to directly compare their performances because they have been evaluated under different reaction conditions. In this study, the conversion rates achieved and products obtained for various CWAs upon reaction with different homogeneous chemical solutions (acting as neutralizers) under the same conditions are systematically examined using gas chromatography. The results allowed for identification of the chemicals that exhibit excellent neutralization performances for the various CWAs, while also providing fundamental kinetic data that can be used to predict the tendencies of the reactions between CWAs and other chemicals. The results also show that each chemical solution exhibits different strengths and weaknesses in terms of their reactivities toward the targeted CWAs, the time required to achieve complete neutralization, and the toxicities of the products produced during the neutralization reactions. Based on the obtained results, it is expected that the efficient compositional design of neutralizers and decontaminants will be possible, and the development of materials exhibiting superior performances should also be facilitated.
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