Sensitive Capillary Electrophoresis Microchip Determination of Trinitroaromatic Explosives in Nonaqueous Electrolyte Following Solid Phase Extraction
Abstract
A capillary electrophoresis (CE) microchip is utilized for the sensitive separation and detection of three trinitroaromatic explosives: 1,3 5-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 1,3 ,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) and 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-N-methylnitramine (tetryl), in the presence of 10 other explosives and explosive derivatives in nonaqueous electrolyte (acetonitrile/methanol 87.5/12.5 (v/v), 2.5 mM NaOH, 1 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (sDs)). The chemical reaction of bases, e.g. hydroxide or methoxide ions, with trinitroaromatic compounds forms red colored derivatives that can be easily detected using a green light emitting diode (LED) on the microchip. Two surfactants bearing opposite charge, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and SDS are compared with respect to their effect on separation times, detection limits and resolving powers for separating these explosives. All microchip separations were achieved in <20s. In the absence of solid phase extraction (SPE), the detection limits obtained for the trinitroaromatic explosives were as follows: TNB, 60 mug/l; TNT, 160 mug/l and tetryl, 200 mug/l.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 12, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA428880
Entities
People
- Greg E. Collins
- Joseph Wang
- Matthew K Smith
- Qin Lu
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory