Bifunctional Metal–Organic Gel for Deep Detoxification of Organophosphorus Nerve Agents through a Cascade Degradation Process

Organophosphorus (OPs) nerve agents, as a class of chemical warfare agents and widely used pesticides, are highly toxic synthetic chemicals that pose severe threats to human health and the environment. However, the current method of detoxifying OPs through hydrolysis cannot completely reduce their harmfulness, as the hydrolysis products of OPs are often highly toxic. Therefore, developing efficient deep detoxification catalysts is of great significance for the emergency response to OPs nerve agent leakage, deep purification of polluted environments, and ingenious construction of protective equipment. Herein, a bimetallic metal–organic gel (namely, Zr/Cu-TATAB) was designed and prepared through simple mixing of a reaction mixture of the Zr4+/Cu2+ salt and 2,4,6-tris[(p-carboxyphenyl)amino]-1,3,5-triazine (H3TATAB) ligand at room temperature. The as-prepared Zr/Cu-TATAB with bimetallic active centers showed a deep detoxification effect toward methyl paraoxon (DMNP) via cascade degradation, in which the Zr(IV) node could efficiently degrade DMNP to p-nitrophenol (p-NP), while the Cu(II) node could further reduce the secondary product p-NP to the nontoxic and economically beneficial p-aminophenol (p-AP). This work demonstrated the great potential of the Zr/Cu-TATAB bifunctional cascade degradation system for deep detoxification of OPs nerve agents and provided new insights for the rational design of high-efficiency bifunctional catalysts in a simple way.