Tetranitrates, analysis

The investigation into the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103, which left 269 dead, indicated that the explosive used was Semtex H, a plasticized mixture of hexahydro-l,3,5-trinitro-s-triazine and pentaerythritol tetranitrate, and that the amount used was half the quantity that the fledgling technique of Thermal Neutron Analysis (TNA) was designed to detect. Although the placement of the explosive device was fortuitous (from the terrorists point of view) and the suitcase had not been screened by TNA, this event killed the TNA prototype program. 

T. Khayamian, M. Tabrizchi and M.T. Jafari, Analysis of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, pentaerythritol tetranitrate and cyclo-1,3,5-trimethylene-2,4,6-trinitramine using negative corona discharge ion mobility spectrometry, Talanta 59(2) (2003) 327—333. 

Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, abbrd as PETN), C(CH2 0N02)4- Its prepn, props, uses and analysis are described by Belgrano (Ref 31, p 176—183) Its props given on p 181 of Ref 31 are as follows Density (max) 1.62, Explosion Temperature 195°, Flame Temperature on Explosion (Temperature Developed on Explosion)... 

Fig. 4. Example of thermal energy analyser (TEA) standard analysis using CPSIL-19 column type. EGDN, Ethylene glycol dinitrate FNT, 2-fluoro-5-nitrotoluene MT, musk tibetine NB, nitrobenzene NG, nitroglycerine PETN, pentaerythritol tetranitrate and RDX, cyclotrimethylene trinitramine TNT, trinitrotoluene. Reprinted with permission from Warren et al. [46], Copyright (1999) Forensic Science Society.

V. W. Manner, B. C. Tappan, B. L. Scott, D. N. Preston, G. W. Brown, Crystal Structure, Packing Analysis, and Structural-Sensitivity Correlations of Erythritol Tetranitrate, Cryst. Growth Des. 2014, 14, 6154-6160. 

The same MEKC system was also used for the separation of a test mixture of 15 compounds of interest in high explosive analysis, including nitroguanidine, ethylene glycol dinitrate, diethylene glycol dinitrate, l,3,5-trinitro-l,3,5-triazacyclohexane (RDX), nitroglycerin, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), penta-erythritol tetranitrate, and picric acid, with excellent resolution except for the overlapping of 1,5- and 1,8-isomers of dinitronaphthalene. Also, separation of all the components (26) of the two sets of standards was attempted with extremely limited coelutions. 

T- Urbariski (Vol. ILpp. 167, 169) and later VViunowski I2 have shown by way of thermal analysis that some f7-miro cotnpounds such aso-mamiiud hc a-nilrate and erythrilol tetranitrate can form additional complexes with aromatic iiitro compounds. 

Gelber, L. Papas, A.N. Validation of high-performance liquid chromatographic methods for analysis of sustained-release preparations containing nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate. J.Pharm.Sci., 1983, 72, 124-126... 

LC-MS is another widely used analytical method for the analysis of explosives. Several articles review LC-MS for explosives analysis [150-152], In particular, Wnon and his coworkers have significantly contributed to the development of explosives analysis by LC-MS. Zhao and Yinon identified nitrate ester explosives by LC-MS using both ESI and APCI [153], In both ionization studies, postcoluran additives are introduced to increase specificity and sensitivity of the product ions produced by the explosives pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), nitroglycerin (NG), and ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN) to form stable adduct ions (as shown in Figure... 

From the i.r. spectrum of a single crystal of methyl -D-glucopyranoside 2,3,4,6-tetranitrate the intermolecular interactions of the nitrate groups have been calculated,and i.r. data from the 400-800 cm range have been used in the conformational analysis of, for example, methyl -D-glucopyranose 2,3,6-trinitrate."" The i.r. spectra of several mono- and dinitrates of methyl a- and )S-D-glucopyranosides are referred to in Chapter 22. 

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