How sarin gas is identified

Originally published on September 7, 2013

British scientists say they have detected the presence of nerve agent sarin on samples taken the from the sites of the August 21 gas attacks in Syria, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron announced today.

The nerve agent agent can be identified by a chemical fingerprint, expressed with the numeric code 99-125-81. Other scientists in Europe and the U.S. are also testing evidence from the attacks - clothes, soil and bodily tissues - for the deadly chemical.

The testing process essentially involves converting samples from a solid to a gas. First, a sample is dissolved in a solvent and shaken. This liquid is put into a gas chromatograph where it is heated and converted into a gas. The chemical to be tested is isolated in this process.

The gas extracted is then put into a mass spectrometer. It is hit with an electron beam which ionizes the molecules. This breaks up the molecules into a unique pattern with which the chemical can be identified. In the case of sarin, this pattern, or fingerprint, is 99-125-81.

Chemists in the United States will be conducting several tests for the nerve agent to rule out the possibility of false positives, the AP reported. Chemicals similar to sarin, such as soman or VX, exist and produce similar side effects, so additional testing must be done to clearly identify the substance, the report said.

British scientists at the secret Porton Down laboratories, however, have confirmed that clothes taken from victims of the attacks tested positive for the deadly substance, as did soil at the site in Damascus, the Independent reported.

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