| Abstract
| - Commercial explosives are complex mixtures that containnot only the active explosive agent(s) but also a host ofother organic and inorganic compounds. The ultrahighmass resolving power (m/Δm50%>200 000) and massaccuracy (<1 ppm) of electrospray ionization Fouriertransform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI FTICR) massspectrometry allow for definitive identification of variousspecies in TNT, RDX, and HMX. We are thereby able tocorrect prior misassignments of the elemental compositions of the most abundant negative ions from electrosprayof RDX and HMX. Although the (known) active agents ofmany explosives may be identified by low-resolution MSor MS/MS, it is the other characteristic components(indigenous or artificial additives) whose presence andelemental composition can potentially identify the sourceof the product. ESI FTICR mass spectrometry of smokeless powder, TNT, and Powermite resolves and identifiesnumerous nonactive ingredients, many of which arerecovered in a postblast residue. In contrast, the residuerecovered from an explosion of military C4 yielded severalspecies derived from RDX but virtually none from otheringredients.
|
