Determination of nitroaromatic, nitramine, and nitrate ester explosives in soil by gas chromatography and an electron capture detector

Walsh, Marianne E.

doi:10.1016/s0039-9140(00)00541-5

Cited by 263 publications

(128 citation statements)

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“…It is known to have contaminated soil and water as a consequence of its use in military activities, the operational deployment of land mines, and in other industrial activities [1][2][3] which has led to significant environmental pollution. A wide range of instrumental methods have been applied for the detection of TNT such as ion mobility spectroscopy, capillary electrophoresis, and gas or liquid chromatography [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Although the instruments used to conduct such tests are highly efficient, they are expensive and are not available in many laboratories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cost effective hydrogel test kit for pre and post blast trinitrotoluene

Choodum

Malathong

NicDaéid

et al. 2016

Forensic Science International

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General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in Discovery Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from Discovery Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain.• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. ABSTRACTA cost effective hydrogel test kit was successfully developed for the detection of pre-and post-blast trinitrotoluene (TNT). A polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel matrix was used to entrap the potassium hydroxide (KOH) colourimetric reagent. The easily portable test kit was fabricated in-situ in a small tube to which the sample could be added directly. The test kit was used in conjunction with digital image colourimetry (DIC) to demonstrate the rapid quantitative analysis of TNT in a test soil sample. The built-in digital camera of an iPhone was used to capture digital images of the colourimetric products from the test kit. Red-Green-Blue (RGB) colour data from the digital images of TNT standard solutions were used to establish a calibration graph. The validation of the DIC method indicated excellent inter day precision (0.12-3.60%RSD) and accuracy (93-108% relative accuracy). Post-blast soil samples containing TNT were analysed using the test kit and were in good agreement with spectrophotometric analysis. The intensity of the RGB data from the TNT complex deviated by +6.3%, +5.1%, and -4.9% after storage of the test kits in a freezer for 3 months. The test kit was also reusable for up to 12 times with only -5.4%, +0.3%, and +4.0% deviations. The hydrogel test kit was applied in the detection of trace explosive residues at the scene of the recent Bangkok bombing at the Ratchaprasong intersection and produced positive results for TNT demonstrating its operational field application as a rapid and cost effective quantitative tool for explosive residue analysis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cost effective hydrogel test kit for pre and post blast trinitrotoluene

Choodum

Malathong

NicDaéid

et al. 2016

Forensic Science International

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“…Explosives are a common soil contaminant at a range of sites, including military training and firing ranges and areas associated with landmine detonations [1][2][3][4][5]. As many explosives are toxic and can have adverse environmental effects, a large body of research has been directed towards the detection and remediation of such explosives residues in soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The stability of TNT, RDX and PETN in simulated post-explosion soils: Implications of sample preparation for analysis

DeTata

Lewis

et al. 2017

Talanta

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Explosives residues in soils may be a useful source of evidence following the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED), such as a vehicle-borne IED. Soil samples collected from the vicinity of an explosion scene will often be stored for some time prior to analysis, yet explosives residues in soil samples are susceptible to rapid degradation or transformation. Although some research has assessed the use of different storage temperatures with a view to reducing explosives' degradation over time, further research examining the degradation of explosives in soil when stored under a variety of storage conditions is crucial to determine the optimal sample collection and storage procedures for soil containing explosives residues. In this work, three different soils were spiked with solutions of TNT, RDX and PETN and stored either at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen. Samples were extracted over 6 weeks, with additional samples gamma-irradiated or nitrogen purged prior to storage. Experimental results indicate that TNT underwent very rapid degradation at room temperature, attributed to microbial action, whereas PETN and RDX proved to be more stable. Gamma irradiation and nitrogen purging proved of some benefit for mitigating TNT degradation, with lower storage temperatures ultimately proving the most effective method of mitigating degradation.

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“…In addition to identifying the type of explosive, characterization of the explosive such as country of origin and manufacturer would be of great help to the investigation. In the literature search on determination of explosives 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX), and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX), techniques such as gas chromatography-electron capture detector (GC-ECD), highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (method: EPA 8330) [2,3] (EPA Method 8330 B: Nitroaromatics, Nitramines, and nitrate esters by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), http://www.epa.gov/ solidwaste/hazard/testmethods/pdfs/8330b.pdf, accessed 01 April 2015), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography with electron-capture detection, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, micellar electrokinetic chromatography [4], capillary electrophoresis coupled with Q-trap MS [5], liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) [6], liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) [7], liquid chromatography-ulraviolet (LC-UV), and amperometric detection [8] were encountered. Various sample preparation techniques were used for explosive analysis such as solid-liquid extraction (EPA Method 8330 B: Nitroaromatics, Nitramines, and Nitrate Esters by HPLC, http:// www.epa.gov/solidwaste/hazard/testmethods/pdfs/8330b.pdf, accessed 01 April 2015), solid-phase microextraction with on-fiber derivatization [4], solid-phase microextraction (SPME) [9], and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid and simple analysis of trace levels of three explosives in soil by liquid chromatography—tandem mass spectrometry

Avci¹,

Anılanmert²,

Cengi̇z³

2017

Acta Chromatographica

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Summary. The analysis of trace levels of explosives in post-blast debris is critical in homeland security, environmental analysis, and crime scene forensic investigations. A fast and a selective determination method with high recovery was developed for the common explosives 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX), and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) in soil, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). An easy and practical sample preparation method was developed using 4.00 mL acidified acetone with 0.25% HCl. After the easy evaporation of acetone extract, 10 min LC-MS/MS analysis provided a clear separation in column. Short duration of the whole procedure allows the use of this method in routine analysis. As a result of the analysis performed in spiked soils in 50.0, 100.0, and 250.0 ng g −1 concentrations, high recoveries such as 100.4 (±8.8)% for RDX, 96.9 (±10.5)% for HMX, and 97.6 (±13.9)% for TNT were obtained. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values obtained from the analysis of the spiked soils were 4.3 ng g −1 and 7.00 ng g −1 for RDX, 6.8 ng g −1 and 10.0 ng g −1 for HMX, and 18.9 ng g −1 and 38.0 ng g −1 for TNT, respectively. The Horwitz Ratio (HorRat) calculation was used to evaluate if the inter-day and inter-analyst precisions were in the acceptable limits. The method was successfully applied to three artificial explosion samples for detection of explosives.

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Determination of nitroaromatic, nitramine, and nitrate ester explosives in soil by gas chromatography and an electron capture detector

Cited by 263 publications

References 12 publications

A cost effective hydrogel test kit for pre and post blast trinitrotoluene

A cost effective hydrogel test kit for pre and post blast trinitrotoluene

The stability of TNT, RDX and PETN in simulated post-explosion soils: Implications of sample preparation for analysis

Rapid and simple analysis of trace levels of three explosives in soil by liquid chromatography—tandem mass spectrometry

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