Miscellaneous Explosive Compounds

Nitric acid has a 65 25 fertilizer explosive end use ratio. The production of ammonium nitrate makes up nearly all of these two uses. The other 10% is made into miscellaneous compounds adipic acid, nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, ammonium picrate, trinitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, silver nitrate, and various isocyanates. 

The success of HPLC in forensic science is not due solely to these general developments. In-house research and development work has made a significant contribution and this has been, and still is, essential because of specific problems which are experienced in the analysis of casework samples. As a result of these developments, HPLC is now used extensively for the analysis of drugs, metabolites, rodenticides, anions, sugars, dyes, polymers, optical brighteners, explosives, fatty acids and other miscellaneous compounds. 

Modified fiber-optic-based sensors can be used for sensing pollutants, explosives, drugs, pharmaceuticals, and miscellaneous organics (Yeh et al. 2006). Optical fibers coated with porous silica can be used to detect the presence of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Alternatively, these compounds can also be detected using fiber-optic-coupled surface plasmon resonance methods. Aromatic compounds were detected by evanescent wave absorption spectroscopy. Suitably modified fiber-optic array tips can be used to detect presence of explosive materials (Wolfbeis 2000). 

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