Rapid and straight forward mass spectrometric determination of nitrocellulose in smokeless powder by DART-Q-ToF-MS/MS
2022
Schachel, Tilo D. | Schulte-Ladbeck, Rasmus
Smokeless powders (SPs) are a group of low-explosives primarily used as propellant in various munitions and are frequently employed as explosive charges in bombings and terrorist attacks. However, the reliable determination of nitrocellulose (NC), one of the main components of SP remains an analytical challenge, especially in post-blast residues. While highly desirable because of its selectivity, the mass spectrometric (MS) detection of NC is hindered by its polymeric nature and broadly distributed molecular weight, as well as its poor ionizability in many common MS ion-sources. Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) – MS allows for the rapid and simple analysis of samples and poses a means of circumventing the problems associated with detection of NC. Analytes in DART readily form adducts, which enables the straight-forward detection of nitrate esters such as glucose trinitrate and cellobiose hexanitrate, the respective monomeric and dimeric subunit of NC, and obviates the need for prior derivatization. Therefore, this method is well suited to rapidly and reliably determine the presence of NC in bulk, as well as consumed SP, as could be shown in this proof-of-concept study for a set of three single-base SPs.
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