Detoxification and Sensing of Organophosphate-Based Pesticides and Preservatives in Beverages

Abstract Development of new catalytic materials for degradation of organophosphates and sensing is an active area of research. To feed the growing population in the word, the load on the agriculture sector increases, which promotes the superfluous use of pesticides. Generally, such kinds of pesticides did not degrade even after a long time and caused a serious health issue. The mostly used pesticides are organophosphate or carbamate-based organic compounds. These are one of the most toxic chemicals known to humans. Both of these elicit their toxic action through the blockade of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme that hydrolyzes acetylcholine into choline, which plays a key role in the peripheral cholinergic system, and intoxication of these pesticides may cause death. Therefore, to ensure quality control in beverages, biocompatible sensors are needed. It is very difficult to separate pesticides from natural beverages in industry. Hence, the target should be decontamination of these pesticides using highly biocompatible catalysts that do not of themselves toxify the beverages. In the last decades, many catalysts have been developed for sensing and degradation of organophosphates. The current chapter is focused on biocompatible catalysts that specifically degrade organophosphate contamination in natural beverages. The major emphasis is given to recent advances in metal complex-based biocompatible catalysts that are well known for phosphate ester hydrolysis and oxime-based green catalysts as decontamination agents for organophosphates.