Express analysis of explosives, chemical warfare agents and drugs with multicapillary column gas chromatography and ion mobility increment spectrometry

Abstract

Description of a gas chromatograph designed for express analysis of explosives (2,4-dinitrotoluene, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, pentaerythritol tetranitrate), chemical warfare agents (mustard gas, lewisite, sarin) and drugs (heroin, cocaine hydrochloride, crack) is given. The devices comprises a multicapillary chromatographic column and an ion mobility increment spectrometer (MCC-IMIS). The main analytical characteristics of an IMIS (estimated detection limit (DL), linear dynamic range (LDR), speed of response) and a chromatographic column (separation power, degree of separation, a number of possible peaks at a chromatogram section, divided by analysis time) are determined. The maximum value of DL equal to 5 pg/ml was registered for cis-alpha-LW, and the lowest one of 0.001 pg/ml was for cocaine. The maximum value of LDR equal to 1000 was registered for sarin and the lowest one of 150 was for the ions of lewisite. Speed of response of one compound detection with the IMIS was 0.7 s.