Citation

Maccrehan WA, Moore S, Hancock D. Anal. Chem. 2011; 83(23): 9054-9059.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/ac201967m

PMID

22004378

Abstract

Effective and accurate detection of trace explosives is crucial in the effort to thwart terrorist explosives attacks. A NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) has been developed for the evaluation of trace explosives detectors that sample by collection of residue particles using swiping or air filtration. SRM 2907 Trace Terrorist Explosives Simulants consists of two materials individually simulating the residues of the plastic explosive Semtex (for PETN) and the improvised explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP). Unique challenges were encountered in the development of these materials, including the selection of suitable inert substrates, material preparation, thermal stability testing, and analytical method development. Two independent analytical methods based on liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorbance and mass spectrometric detection, LCUV and LCMS respectively, were developed and used to certify the mass fractions of PETN and TATP. These materials were further evaluated for their suitability on a field swipe-sampled trace explosives detectors based on Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS).

Language: en