LAUSR

Abstract Two semi-quantitative, fast liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods have been developed using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation source in conjunction with an accurate mass detector (LC-APCI-QToF-MS) for the analysis of traces of the peroxide explosives hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) and triacetone triperoxide (TATP). A comprehensive validation was conducted on each method and is presented herein. The limits of detection (LOD) for HMTD and TATP using these methods were determined to be 0.5 ng and 10 ng on column, respectively. The high mass accuracy and narrow mass detection window offer high selectivity with This paper supports recent work performed using ESI-TOF and Orbitrap that demonstrates that the 207.0614 ion observed during the analysis of HMTD is in fact [TMDDD + H]+, and not [M-1]+.