Destruction of chemical warfare agents using metal–organic frameworks

Chemical warfare agents containing phosphonate ester bonds are among themost toxic chemicals known tomankind1. Recent global military events, such as the conflict and disarmament in Syria2, have brought into focus the need to find eective strategies for the rapid destruction of these banned chemicals. Solutions are needed for immediate personal protection (for example, the filtration and catalytic destruction of airborne versionsofagents), bulkdestructionof chemicalweaponstock-piles, protection (via coating) of clothing, equipment andbuild-ings, and containment of agent spills3. Solid heterogeneous materials such as modified activated carbon or metal oxides exhibit many desirable characteristics for the destruction of chemical warfare agents4–6. However, low sorptive capacities, low eective active site loadings, deactivation of the active site, slow degradation kinetics, and/or a lack of tailorabilit