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New developments in SPME Part 2: Analysis of ammonium nitrate-based explosives
Hayley Brown1, K Paul Kirkbride, Paul E Pigou
1Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001.
Journal of Forensic Sciences
|March 19, 2004
Summary
This study introduces a new derivatization method using alkylchloroformates to enable the analysis of ammonium nitrate explosives by solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This overcomes limitations of current techniques for these challenging compounds.
Area of Science:
- Analytical Chemistry
- Forensic Science
- Chemical Analysis
Background:
- Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is effective for analyzing many organic explosives.
- This technique is unsuitable for ammonium nitrate-based explosives due to their high polarity, low molecular weight, and volatile amine groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate a derivatization method for analyzing ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate explosives.
- To adapt these explosives for analysis using SPME and GC-MS.
Main Methods:
- Development of a derivatization process using alkylchloroformates.
- Conversion of ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate into a suitable form for SPME.
- Analysis of derivatized explosives using GC-MS.
Main Results:
- The alkylchloroformate derivatization successfully converted ammonium nitrate and methylammonium nitrate.
- The derivatized compounds became amenable to recovery by SPME.
- The derivatized compounds were suitable for analysis by GC-MS.
Conclusions:
- Alkylchloroformate derivatization is a promising approach for analyzing challenging ammonium nitrate-type explosives.
- This method expands the applicability of SPME-GC-MS for explosive detection and analysis.