Improved Method for the Detection of TATP After Explosion

Abstract

TATP in post explosion exhibits was reported earlier to be best recovered from vapor phase. A typical procedure includes its adsorption on Amberlite XAD-7, elution with acetonitrile and analysis by GC/MS. In this work, improved recovery of TATP from the vapor phase was achieved by SPME using PDMS/DVB fiber and immediate sampling to GC/MS. The recovery of TATP by SPME was compared with headspace and with adsorption on Amberlite XAD-7 by spiking onto filter paper put in a 100 mL beaker. The limit of detection of TATP was 6.4 ng in these conditions, few orders magnitude more than in the other tested methods. Recovery of TATP in the presence of various solvents was also studied. Acetone, water, and mixtures of water:alcohols (1:1) were found to reduce the recovery of TATP. Using SPME, TATP has been identified in dozens of post-explosion cases.

Laser photoionization of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) by femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses

“…GC/MS analysis of neat TATP and TATP from post-explosion debris has also been reported [6,16]. The GC/MS studies, employing 70 eV electron impact ionization, yield mass spectra qualitatively similar to those obtained in this study employing femtosecond laser photoionization.…”

Assessing a novel contact heater as a new method of recovering explosives traces from porous surfaces

“…Due to its ease of synthesis and the ready availability of its precursors, it has been implicated in an increasing number of explosion incidents. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) is a well-recognised explosive compound which has had a high level of historical use. [10] It is relatively rare to find traces of explosives in an everyday environment.…”

Triacetone triperoxide detection using low reduced-field proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer

“…In recent years, a variety of separation and detection techniques have been strongly investigated for TATP detection [3,4]. For instance, photoacoustic spectroscopy [5], cavity-ringdown spectroscopy [6], ion mobility spectrometry [7][8][9][10], and LC or GC separation coupled with MS detection [11][12][13][14][15] have been developed to analyze TATP. But the sample pretreatment and the chromatographic separation make some techniques difficult to detect TATP rapidly.…”