BACKGROUND: Chemical warfare (CW) agents are highly toxic compounds and have been used in war to produce physical immobilization, so safe and effective ways to detoxify them without endangering human life or the environment is of great concern. One of the important ways to achieve protection against CW agents contaminating air is to utilize suitable adsorbent materials, e.g. activated carbon, nanoparticles, etc. In the present study nanoparticles, synthesized through sol-gel processes and loaded with reactive compounds have been used for the degradation of CW agents and to understand their adsorption kinetics using Fickian and linear driving force models. RESULTS: Nanoparticles of AP-Al2O3 (aerogel-produced alumina) in the size range 2-30 nm with high surface area (375 m(2) g(-1)) were produced by an alkoxide-based synthesis, and then characterized using N-2-Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. Thereafter, these were impregnated, and finally tested for kinetics of adsorption of sulfur mustard (HD) under static conditions. The kinetics was studied using linear driving force and Fickian diffusion models and the kinetics parameters determined. CONCLUSION: AP-Al2O3 with 10% impregnation of 9-molybdo-3-vanadophosphoric acid (10%, w/w) showed the maximum uptake (640 mg g(-1)) of HD. The highest adsorption potential indicated that the adsorption was due not only to physisorption but also involved chemisorption. Values of the diffusional exponent indicated the mechanism to be Fickian and anomalous. Hydrolysis, dehydrochlorination and oxidation reactions (identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS)) were found to be the route of degradation of HD over the prepared nanoparticle based adsorbents. (C) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry