The oxidation of parathion to paraoxon in aqueous media by silver oxide (AgO).

CONCLUSIONS: The present preliminary report clearly justifies more detailed examinations of this previously unreported oxidative technique. AgO may prove to be a general reagent for oxidizing thiono-organophosphorus pesticides to their phosphates which are often more potent ChE inhibitors than the parent compounds; many other oxidants have been utilized for this purpose with reported conversion efficiencies ranging from a few percent to near quantitative, usually on a macro-scale; most micro methods in the literature are of very low efficiencies. Whether AgO will also oxidize any of the thiolo-organophosphorus compounds to their phosphates is not yet established, except for negative results with Thimet.