Figure 1.

The nerve agents sarin, soman and VX react with moisture in the environment to provide iPMPA, PMPA or EMPA. These acids react slowly with water with loss of isopropanol, pinacolyl alcohol, or ethanol to provide MPA. It was the discovery of sarin, iPMPA and MPA collectively by the United Nations investigating team, from analysis of soil samples collected after the 21 August 2013 attack on civilians in Ghouta in the Syrian Arab Republic, that confirmed that sarin-filled rockets had been deployed [2,4].