Nerve agents surrogates and their applicationin the experimental toxicology
Medical Review (Med. pregled), 2025, 61(3), 17-22.
A. Nedzhib
Military Toxicology Section, Department of Disaster medicine, Military Medical Academy – Sofia
Abstract. The most famous representatives of nerve agents include the following chemical compounds, listed in the order of their synthesis over the years: tabun, sarin, cyclosarin, soman, VX, and Novichok. They are deadly fast-acting poisons, and, without timely and adequate treatment, intoxication with them leads to death. With the ex¬ception of the Novichok representatives, the others are created as chemical warfare agents designed to defeat the enemy. Novichok has characteristics that rather define it as a means of terror. Since their synthesis, these agents have been subject of intensive scientific research. Due to their extremely high toxicity and their physicochemical characteristics, these compounds require the specific skills of researchers, specific equipment and strict accountability of the expended quantities, conducting scientific experiments with them. This makes it difficult for a wider range of scientific units to deploy research studies, which raises the need to synthesize their substitutes. For this reason, the so-called surrogates of nerve agents are obtained, which have their specific application. This review discusses some of the possibilities of using nerve agent surrogates as less toxic representatives of organophosphorus compounds in experimental toxicology.
Key words: nerve agents surrogates, cholinesterase reactivators, experimental toxicolog