Journal article
Armed with the Facts: A Method for the Analysis of Smokeless Powders by Ambient Mass Spectrometry
Callum Bonnar, Rachel Popelka-Filcoff, K Paul Kirkbride
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY | AMER CHEMICAL SOC | Published : 2020
Abstract
The work presented here follows several others in investigating what capabilities, if any, ambient mass spectrometry might have toward the analysis of compounds commonly associated with smokeless propellant powders. This family of instrumental techniques has attracted curiosity from the field of forensic science due to its desirable properties such as rapid collection of information-rich data, combined with minimal requirements for sample mass and preparation. Experiments were conducted with a “Direct Sample Analysis” ion source integrated with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The ionization behaviors of nitroglycerin, methyl and ethyl centralite, akardite, diphenylamine, nitrosodiphenyla..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Jason Young for his valuable advice and technical support at Flinders Analytical during the collection of the reported data. We are also grateful for the support provided to this research by the Ross Vining Memorial Research Fund (administered by Forensic Science SA) and by the South Australia Police, in particular, Brevet Sergeant Andrew Plummer, PhD. We acknowledge the preparation and instrumental analysis performed by our colleague Eliza Moule on the postfiring OGSR hand samples used to produce Figure 5, and her input on the related discussion points. This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship.