Detoxification of Chemical Warfare Agents at Physiological pH Using UiO-66(Zr)/Gelatin Hydrogel Composite

Zirconium-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are increasingly recognized as promising materials for decontaminating organophosphate (OP) chemical warfare agents (CWAs), thanks to their high Lewis and Bro̷nsted acidity, notable stability, and permanent porosity. However, their practical use is limited by challenges related to the required highly alkaline media to perform efficient decontamination, while at neutral pH, conversion of CWAs into nontoxic end products is mostly insignificant. There is a significant lack of research conducted under physiological conditions, and existing studies are primarily focused on a limited number of CWAs. In this work, we not only have exploited a Zr-based MOF UiO-66(Zr) to study the hydrolysis of a series of CWAs at physiological pH, but also explored its hydrogel composite with gelatin to show significant improvement in the kinetics of the hydrolysis of a series of OP CWAs and pesticides to obtain conversion as high as 100% with a promising half-life of lower than 5 min. The recycling ability of the MOF and the MOF/gelatin composite was exploited to show minimal loss of activity over three consecutive cycles.