Patent ID: 6838292

Claim:
A non-invasive field use device for detection of biological warfare agent spores, said device comprising: an activated matrix comprising: a matrix, activated by immobilizing therein, a multidentate chelated lanthanide compound stabilized by a predetermined multidentate chelating ligand attached thereto, wherein the multidentate chelated lanthanide compound reacts optimally in a pH range of approximately 10-12 with spore-specific target compounds derived from the biological warfare agent spores to produce a reaction product that, upon being excited with selected UV-radiation, produces a characteristic phosphorescent emission; a first unit to excite the reaction product to produce the characteristic phosphorescent emission; and a second unit to detect the characteristic phosphorescent emission, wherein the spore-specific target compounds are selected from the group consisting of dipicolinic acid, diaminopimelic acid, n-acetylmuramic acid, sulfolactic acid, and phosphoglyceric acid.