Publication detail

Rapid and selective screening of organic peroxide explosives using acid-hydrolysis induced chemiluminescence

Mahbub, P. Hasan, CK. Rudd, D. Voelcker, NH. Orbell, J. Cole, I. Macka, M.

Original Title

Rapid and selective screening of organic peroxide explosives using acid-hydrolysis induced chemiluminescence

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Organic peroxide explosives (OPEs) are unstable, non-military, contemporary security threats often found in improvised explosive devices. Chemiluminescence (CL) can be used to detect OPEs, via radical formation con-sisting of peroxide moieties (-O-O-) under acidic conditions. However, selectivity for specific OPEs is hampered by the ubiquitous background of H2O2. Herein, we report the differentiation of hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), triacetone triperoxide (TATP), and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) by specific flow injection analysis-CL (FIA-CL) signal profiles, after H2SO4 treatment. The radical degradation pathway of each structure, and its corresponding FIA-CL profile, was explored using mass spectrometry to reveal the rapid loss of -O-O-from TATP and HMTD structures, while MEKP formed CL signal-sustaining oligomers, as opposed to the immediate attenuation of H2O2. The CL response for OPEs in an aqueous media, measured via the described FIA-CL method, enabled ultra-trace limits of detection down to 0.40 mu M for MEKP, 0.43 mu M for HMTD, and 0.40 mu M for TATP (combined linear range 1-83 mu M with 95% confidence limit, n = 12). Expanded uncertainties of measurement (UM) of MEKP = +/- 0.98, HMTD = +/- 1.03, and TATP = +/- 1.1 (UM included probabilities of false positive and false negative as well as standard deviations of % recoveries and limit of detections of OPEs). Direct aqueous sample introduction via FIA-CL thus offers the prospect of rapid and selective screening of OPEs in security-heightened settings (e.g., airports), averting false positives from more ubiquitous H2O2.

Keywords

Acid hydrolysis; Direct flow injection analysis; chemiluminescence; Hydrogen peroxide; Organic peroxide explosives; Rapid screening; Selectivity

Authors

Mahbub, P.; Hasan, CK.; Rudd, D.; Voelcker, NH.; Orbell, J.; Cole, I.; Macka, M.

Released

15. 5. 2023

Publisher

ELSEVIER

Location

AMSTERDAM

ISBN

1873-4324

Periodical

Analytica Chimica Acta

Year of study

1255

Number

341156

State

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Pages count

9

URL

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000326702300377X?via%3Dihub

BibTex

@article{BUT184068,
  author="Mahbub, P. and Hasan, CK. and Rudd, D. and Voelcker, NH. and Orbell, J. and Cole, I. and Macka, M.",
  title="Rapid and selective screening of organic peroxide explosives using acid-hydrolysis induced chemiluminescence",
  journal="Analytica Chimica Acta",
  year="2023",
  volume="1255",
  number="341156",
  pages="9",
  doi="10.1016/j.aca.2023.341156",
  issn="1873-4324",
  url="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000326702300377X?via%3Dihub"
}