Nanoporous Silica Preconcentrator for Vapor-Phase DMNB, a Detection Taggant for Explosives.

ABSTRACT: The detection of trace amounts of explosives in the vapor phase is of great importance. Preconcentration of the analyte is a useful technique to lower the detection limit of existing sensors. A nanoporous silica (pSiO₂) substrate was evaluated as a preconcentrator for gas-phase 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane (DMNB), a volatile detection taggant added by law to plastic explosives. After collection in pSiO₂, the DMNB vapor was thermally desorbed at 70 °C into a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry sorbent tube. This was analyzed for the total mass of DMNB collected in pSiO₂. The loading time and loading temperature of pSiO₂ were varied systematically between 15 and 60 min and 5-20 °C, respectively. The preconcentrator's performance was compared to

SUBMITTER: Day C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7391368 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature