Detecting trace amounts of peroxides and ammonium nitrate in fingerprints by ion mobility spectrometry

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Abstract

The effect of the sweat and grease deposits (SGD) from fingerprints on the detection efficiency of trace amounts of explosive substances—triacetone triperoxide (TATP), hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD), and ammonium nitrate (AN) by ion mobility spectrometry in air at atmospheric pressure was investigated. Among the main components of SGD, urea is identified as a positive mode influencer, while lactic acid (LA) affects in a negative mode. The presence of urea or SGD in the sample does not significantly affect the detection of TATP in the positive mode but decreases the efficiency of HMTD ion formation and leads to the appearance of adduct cations of HMTD and urea. The presence of lactic acid or SGD slightly decreases the efficiency of ammonium nitrate ion formation in the negative mode and significantly alters the qualitative composition of HMTD ions, leading to the appearance of HMTD and LA adduct anions. In the absence of any impurities in the sample, the best reduced limit of detection (signal-to-noise ratio = 3σ), estimated at 30–50 pg, was observed for HMTD. The lifetime of HMTD, TATP, and AN traces on aluminum foil under laboratory conditions was determined to be 1, 3, and 12 h for samples with masses of mHMTD 1 × 10–9, 2 × 10–9, and 1 × 10–8 g and surface densities ds of 0.008, 0.016, and 0.08 μg/cm2, respectively; 102 and 103 s for mTATP 1 × 10–5 and 1 × 10–4 g and ds of 80 and 800 μg/cm2, respectively; 12 and 25 h for mAN 3 × 10–8 and 5 × 10–8 g and ds of 0.24 and 0.4 μg/cm2, respectively.

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About the authors

T. I. Buryakov

Alexandrov Research Institute of Technology

Author for correspondence.
Email: buryakovti@gmail.com
Russian Federation, 188540, Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad oblast

I. A. Buryakov

Alexandrov Research Institute of Technology

Email: buryakovia@gmail.com
Russian Federation, 188540, Sosnovy Bor, Leningrad oblast

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2. Fig. 1. Fragments of (a) positive and (b) negative spectra in the analysis of a fingerprint containing 1 microgram of GMTD. The peak designations are: 1 – urea cations, 2 – GMTD cations, 3 – adduct cations of GMTD and urea, 4 - MK, 5 – adduct anions of GMTD and MK, 6 – GMTD anions.

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3. Fig. 2. Dependences of the amplitude of ion peaks on the residence time of the napkin in the thermal desorption chamber Ai(th): in the positive mode, K0 GMTD = = 1.50 cm2/(In · s) with a mass of the mGMTD sample = 1 microgram (1) or 10 ng (2) and K0 TATP =2.05 cm2/(In · c) with mTATP = 10 mcg (3); in the positive mode, K0 TATP mTATP =10 mcg + abundant fatty deposits (4); in the negative mode, K0 NA = 2.01 cm2/(In · c) mHA = 50 ng + abundant fatty deposits (5) and K0 GMTD = 1.48 cm2/(B · c) mGMTD = 0.5 mcg + abundant fatty deposits (6).

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4. Fig. 3. Dependences of ei (mmourea) in the positive mode for ions with K0, cm2/(V · s): black circle – K0 GMTD = 1.50, black rhombus – K0 TATP = 2.05, white rhombus – K0 TATP = 1.33. Dependences of ei (mMK) in the negative mode for ions: white circle – K0 GMTD = 1.48, gray circle – K0 GMTD = 1.91, white square – K0 NA = 2.01. 1 – average fatty deposits + explosive, 2 – abundant fatty deposits + explosive.

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