Forensic utility of isotope ratio analysis of the explosive urea nitrate and its precursors

Aranda, Roman; Stern, Libby A.; Dietz, Marianne; McCormick, Meghan; Barrow, Jason A.; Mothershead, Robert F.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.07.030

Cited by 32 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…This leads to the first-order question: Can a sample of interest be distinguished from another sample based on comparison of isotope ratios? Answering this question is important in variety of contexts: explosives (Widory et al 2009;Aranda et al 2011;Howa et al 2014a-c) or components of explosives (Barnette et al 2011), packaging tapes (Carter et al 2004, Horacek et al 2008, Dietz et al 2012, ink (Chesson et al 2015), olive oil (Angerosa et al 1999, Camin et al 2009, paint (Farmer et al 2009), and many other products. A principal application would be to show whether evidence at a crime scene could be associated with the same product in a suspect's possession; this provides comparable evidence that the material could have the same origin but is also useful in providing falsification of a hypothesis whereby the material could be shown to be different or to have a different origin.…”

Section: Framework For Stable Isotopes In Forensic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry

Cerling

Barnette

Bowen

et al. 2016

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

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Table 1 (Continued) Application Reference Principal finding(s) Human remains Bartelink et al. 2015 Region of origin of human remains from past wars Font et al. 2015 Origin of unidentified World War II casualties Juarez 2008 87 Sr/ 86 Sr to help identify undocumented border crossers Katzenberg & Krouse 1989 Isotopes applied to human tissue identification Meier-Augenstein & Fraser 2008 Case study using δD and δ 18 O on a murder victim Remien et al. 2014 Case study of inverse modeling applied to isotope forensics and human hair Wildlife Bowen et al. 2005a Global patterns of δD and δ 18 O in wildlife Hobson & Wassenaar 2008 Reconstructing animal migration using stable isotopes Hobson 1999 Reconstructing animal migration using stable isotopes Marra et al. 2009 Case study of migratory geese as the cause of an airplane crash Uno et al. 2013 14 C to determine year of death for seized ivory

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Section: Framework For Stable Isotopes In Forensic Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry

Cerling

Barnette

Bowen

et al. 2016

Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci.

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“…Finally Lazarowski and Dorman studied the capability of trained detection dogs to correctly signal the presence of one or more explosive mixtures containing potassium chlorate [11]. In addition, some authors have evaluated an isotopic analysis application to study a possible association between precursors used as starting material and explosive products obtained [12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Annex I Regulated Substancementioning

confidence: 99%

Locating bomb factories by detecting hydrogen peroxide

Romolo

Connell

Ferrari

et al. 2016

Talanta

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The analytical capability to detect hydrogen peroxide vapour can play a key role in localizing a site where a H2O2 based Improvised Explosive (IE) is manufactured. In security activities it is very important to obtain information in a short time. For this reason, an analytical method to be used in security activity needs portable devices. The authors have developed the first analytical method based on a portable luminometer, specifically designed and validated to locate IE manufacturing sites using quantitative on-site vapour analysis for H2O2. The method was tested both indoor and outdoor. The results demonstrate that the detection of H2O2 vapours could allow police forces to locate the site, while terrorists are preparing an attack. The collected data are also very important in developing new sensors, able to give an early alarm if located at a proper distance from a site where an H2O2 based IE is prepared.

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“…Several reviews have discussed forensic applications of IRMS (105)(106)(107)(108), and Meier-Augenstein (109) provided even more comprehensive coverage in his recent book Stable Isotope Forensics. In forensic applications, isotope ratio analysis provides information about the natural or synthetic origins of scheduled drugs (110)(111)(112)(113)(114)(115)(116)(117)(118)(119)(120), organic and inorganic explosives (76,121,122), petroleum hydrocarbons (such as in ignitable liquids) (65,66,(123)(124)(125)(126), and various other forensic materials (such as fibers, matches, and paint chips) (127)(128)(129)(130)(131). The ability to analyze hard and soft human tissue has also provided helpful investigative leads about the geographic origins of humans, especially in John Doe and Jane Doe cases where fingerprints, DNA, and dental records are not found in databases (132)(133)(134)(135)(136)(137)(138)(139).…”

Section: Stable Isotope Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic Mass Spectrometry

Hoffmann¹,

Jackson

2015

Annual Rev. Anal. Chem.

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Developments in forensic mass spectrometry tend to follow, rather than lead, the developments in other disciplines. Examples of techniques having forensic potential born independently of forensic applications include ambient ionization, imaging mass spectrometry, isotope ratio mass spectrometry, portable mass spectrometers, and hyphenated chromatography-mass spectrometry instruments, to name a few. Forensic science has the potential to benefit enormously from developments that are funded by other means, if only the infrastructure and personnel existed to adopt, validate, and implement the new technologies into casework. Perhaps one unique area in which forensic science is at the cutting edge is in the area of chemometrics and the determination of likelihood ratios for the evaluation of the weight of evidence. Such statistical techniques have been developed most extensively for ignitable-liquid residue analyses and isotope ratio analysis. This review attempts to capture the trends, motivating forces, and likely impact of developing areas of forensic mass spectrometry, with the caveat that none of this research is likely to have any real impact in the forensic community unless: (a) The instruments developed are turned into robust black boxes with red and green lights for positives and negatives, respectively, or (b) there are PhD graduates in the workforce who can help adopt these sophisticated techniques.

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Forensic utility of isotope ratio analysis of the explosive urea nitrate and its precursors

Cited by 32 publications

References 41 publications

Forensic Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry

Forensic Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry

Locating bomb factories by detecting hydrogen peroxide

Forensic Mass Spectrometry

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