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ABSTRACT: High performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography techniques are well documented and widely used for the detection
of trace explosives from organic solvents. These techniques were modified to identify and quantify explosives extracted from
various materials taken from people who had recently handled explosives. Documented techniques were modified to specifically
detect and quantify trace levels of the military explosives, RDX, TNT, and PETN from denim, colored flannel, vinyl, and canvas
extracted in methanol and filtered using no additional sample cleanup of the sample extract prior to analysis. The filtered
methanol extracts were injected directly into several different column types and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography
using ultraviolet detection and/or gas chromatography using electron capture detection. This paper describes general screening
methods that were used to determine the presence of explosives (RDX, TNT, and PETN) in unknown samples of denim, colored flannel,
vinyl and canvas in addition to techniques that have been optimized for quantification of each explosive from the substrate
extracts.
KeywordsRDX-TNT-PETN-HPLC–UV-Material extract
Sensing and Imaging An International Journal 04/2012; 11(2):61-75.
