TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - Accurate quantitation of pentaerythritol tetranitrate and its degradation products using liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry JO - Journal of chromatography: A A1 - Brust, Hanneke A1 - van Asten, Arian A1 - Koeberg, Mattijs A1 - Dalmolen, Jan A1 - van der Heijden, Antoine A1 - Schoenmakers, Peter SP - 111 EP - 116 VL - 1338 IS - N2 - After an explosion of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), its degradation products pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETriN), dinitrate (PEDiN) and mononitrate (PEMN) were detected using liquid chromatography-atmospheric-pressure chemical-ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-APCI-MS). Discrimination between post-explosion and naturally degraded PETN could be achieved based on the relative amounts of the degradation products. This information can be used as evidence when investigating a possible relationship between a suspect and a post-explosion crime scene. The present work focuses on accurate quantitation of PETN and its degradation products, using PETriN, PEDiN and PEMN standards specifically synthesized for this purpose. With the use of these standards, the ionization behavior of these compounds was studied, and a quantitative method was developed. Quantitation of PETN and trace levels of its degradation products was shown to be possible with accuracy between 85.7% and 103.7% and a precision ranging from 1.3% to 11.5%. The custom-made standards resulted in a more robust and reliable method to discriminate between post-explosion and naturally-degraded PETN.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0021-9673 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2014.02.067 ID - ref1 ER -