UK researchers have shown that polymers can absorb chemical warfare agents. When dried, the densely crosslinked polystyrene networks can swell to accommodate organic molecules. They can therefore act not just as universal sorbents for soaking up a wide range of chemicals, but also as a new way to decontaminate stockpiles of chemical weapons.
Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry
Reaction used to prepare the hypercrosslinked polymer networks
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This article is free to access until 26 April 2017.
C Wilson et al, Polym. Chem., 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c7py00040e
