The use of organic peroxides for the preparation of homemade explosives (HMEs) is common among terrorists due to inexpensive precursor chemicals and simple synthetic procedures. Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is the most notable peroxide explosive, and has been deployed in several terrorist attacks as explosive filling of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Forensic identifications of TATP in pre-blast and post-blast residues, including on-field analysis, pose analytical challenges and demand for practicable and sensitive diagnostic methods. This work presents a concept suitable for laboratory and on-site identification of TATP residues in liquid (aqueous TATP synthetic waste) and gas phase. It is based on TATP enrichment from the aqueous or gas phase, using different passive samplers (polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sampling rods and activated carbon sampling tubes (ACST)) and subsequent identification of the explosive by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or GC with positive chemical ionization and tandem MS (GC-PCI-MS/MS) analytical techniques. Investigations of the stability of TATP in aqueous solutions and of the stability of enriched TATP in passive samplers under different storage conditions, as well as a development of TATP re-extraction procedures from passive samplers have been performed in this study. The practical use of passive samplers was demonstrated during and after TATP production processes.

HEHET Petra;  PUETZ M.;  KAEMMERER Barbara;  UMLAUF Gunther;  GEISS Otmar;  NUNES CAETANO José Guilherme;  KARAGHIOSOFF K.;  WENDE M.; 

2023-06-15

ELSEVIER BV

JRC131023

1875-1741 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073823001238,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131023,   

10.1016/j.forsciint.2023.111673 (online),