The analysis of nitrate explosive vapour samples using Lab-on-a-chip instrumentation
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Journal of Chromatography A, 2019, 1602 pp. 467 - 473
- Issue Date:
- 2019-09-27
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| 1-s2.0-S0021967319306004-main.pdf | Published Version | 1.16 MB |
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© 2019 Elsevier B.V. The detection and analysis of explosives and explosive-related compounds is a heightened priority in recent years for homeland security and counter-terrorism applications. This study aimed to evaluate the use of a commercial Lab-On-a-Chip (LOC) instrument for the analysis of explosive vapours, with the long-term goal of developing a portable instrument for passively detecting explosives in air samples. A simple method to collect explosive vapour residues was developed using a glass vial containing varying amounts of the target explosives (1 mg/mL). Standards were diluted to the desired concentration in 150 μL of acetone to facilitate the evaporation. The top of the vial was covered with a circular 0.5 cm diameter filter paper and exposed to a range of temperatures from 22 °C to 80 °C for 15 min. Following evaporation, the filter paper chads were folded and inserted into the LOC wells containing the separation buffer for the analysis, avoiding any further extraction step. After successfully separating and detecting eight explosives via liquid analysis, three explosives were chosen as targets for the vapour analysis experiments. 1,3,5-Trinitrobenzene (TNB), 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT), and 2,4,6-Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine (Tetryl) were successfully separated, detected and identified following the vapour extraction of explosive standards onto filter paper chads. Limits of detection for the liquid analysis were demonstrated to be 2.32 ng for TNB, 2.35 ng for Tetryl, and 3.25 ng for TNT. The minimum detectable mass found for the vapour analysis was 6.03 for TNB, 9.99 ng for TNT, and 14.22 ng for Tetryl. The average recovery from the paper chads was 29% for Tetryl, 47% for TNB, and 75% for TNT (n = 4), comparable with findings from previous studies. Results show that a minimum temperature of 40 °C is necessary to vaporize the compounds using acetone, while the best results were achieved when heating the vial to 80 °C. The use of a filter paper to collect the explosives residues, avoiding any additional extraction step, and the ability to analyze these compounds using a LOC instrument, makes this approach a future alternative method for explosive residues detection in the headspace.
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