Basic Research Needs for Countering Terrorism

To identify connections between technology needs for countering terrorism and underlying science issues and to recommend investment strategies to increase the impact of basic research on efforts to counter terroris

Control of the reactant ion chemistry for the analysis of explosives by ion mobility spectroscopy

Changes in the reactant ion composition in the ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) can result in a change in the ionization processes occurring in the ionization region, ultimately leading to an altered instrumental response for the analyte, and exacerbating the problem of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Some species are very susceptible to changes in reactant ions, while other species are relatively unaffected. These types of behavior are observed for two common explosives, namely, hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitrol,3,5-triazine (RDX) and 1,3,5-trinitrotoluene (TNT), respectively. To control the reactant ion composition, and hence the gas phase chemistry, it is necessary to control the composition of gases present in the ionization region of the IMS. A series of modifications are described for the PCP Phemto-Chem 100 IMS that afford the requisite control. The effectiveness of these modifications for analysis of RDX and TNT are described and contrasted with that observed for the unmodified system

Trace identification of organic moleculses in ultrapure water using Ion Mobility Spectroscopy

Preliminary laboratory investigations have indicated that Ion Mobility Spectroscopy is capable of detecting many of the contaminants found in UPW systems. The sensitivity and response time meets the requirements for UPW monitoring. Minor hardware and software modifications must be made for on-line use, and the instrument must be tested for robustness, stability, reproducibility, and similar parameters. Resolution issues between the reactant ions and some target species must still be addressed

Reactant ion chemistry for detection of TNT, RDX, and PETN using an ion mobility spectrometer

This report describes the responses of three energetic materials (TNT, RDX, and PETN) to varying reactant ion chemistries and IMS cell temperatures. The following reactant ion chemistries were evaluated; air-dry; air-wet; methylene chloride-dry; methylene chloride-wet; methylene bromide-dry; nitrogen dioxide-wet; sulfur dioxide-wet. The temperature was varied between 160 - 220{degrees}C

Detection of Biological Materials Using Ion Mobility Spectroscopy

Traditionally, Ion Mobility Spectroscopy has been used to examine ions of relatively low molecular weight and high ion mobility. In recent years, however, biomolecules such as bradykinin, cytochrome c, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), apomyoglobin, and lysozyme, have been successfully analyzed, but studies of whole bio-organisms have not been performed. In this study an attempt was made to detect and measure the mobility of two bacteriophages, {lambda}-phage and MS2 using electrospray methods to inject the viruses into the ion mobility spectrometer. Using data from Yeh, et al., which makes a comparison between the diameter of non-biologic particles and the specific particle mobility, the particle mobility for the MS2 virus was estimated to be 10{sup {minus}2} cm{sup 2}/volt-sec. From this mobility the drift time of these particles in our spectrometer was calculated to be approximately 65 msec. The particle mobility for the {lambda}-phage virus was estimated to be 10{sup {minus}3} cm{sup 2}/volt-sec. which would result in a drift time of 0.7 sec. Spectra showing the presence of a viral peak at the expected drift time were not observed. However, changes in the reactant ion peak that could be directly attributed to the presence of the viruses were observed. Virus clustering, excessive collisions, and the electrospray injection method limited the performance of this IMS. However, we believe that an instrument specifically designed to analyze such bioagents and utilizing other injection and ionization methods will succeed in directly detecting viruses and bacteria

Destruction of explosives in groundwater and process water using photocatalytic and biological methods

The environmentally safe destruction of pinkwater is a significant problem that requires a multidisciplinary approach to solve. We have investigated the application of advanced oxidation processes, including the use of both UV light source and laser technologies. The reactions were run under both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. Aerobic and anaerobic biotreatments were examined as both pre- and post-treatments to the oxidation processes. The toxicity of the wastewater at various stages of treatment was determined. Membrane preconcentration schemes were examined to determine their effectiveness as part of the total pinkwater treatment scheme

Photocatalysis for the destruction of aqueous TNT, RDX, and HMX

The photo-destruction of the high explosives HMX, RDX and TNT was investigated using two systems (ozone versus titanium dioxide), two reactors (pot vs annular reactor), and two types of lamps (1000 Watt Hg-Xe vs 25 Watt LP Hg). A mass balance was performed on reactions executed under pseudo-solar conditions, and relative reaction rates and products were compared for ozone and titanium dioxide based processes. The ratios of relative product formation is also discussed. Results show that there was little difference in the reactions performed in the annular reactor when either ozone or titanium oxide were used. The chemistry of RDX and HMX are very similar, as expected. Future work involving the mechanism is also discussed

Chemical sensing system for classification of mine-like objects by explosives detection

Sandia National Laboratories has conducted research in chemical sensing and analysis of explosives for many years. Recently, that experience has been directed towards detecting mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) by sensing the low-level explosive signatures associated with these objects. The authors focus has been on the classification of UXO in shallow water and anti-personnel/anti tank mines on land. The objective of this work is to develop a field portable chemical sensing system which can be used to examine mine-like objects (MLO) to determine whether there are explosive molecules associated with the MLO. Two sampling subsystems have been designed, one for water collection and one for soil/vapor sampling. The water sampler utilizes a flow-through chemical adsorbent canister to extract and concentrate the explosive molecules. Explosive molecules are thermally desorbed from the concentrator and trapped in a focusing stage for rapid desorption into an ion-mobility spectrometer (IMS). The authors describe a prototype system which consists of a sampler, concentrator-focuser, and detector. The soil sampler employs a light-weight probe for extracting and concentrating explosive vapor from the soil in the vicinity of an MLO. The chemical sensing system is capable of sub-part-per-billion detection of TNT and related explosive munition compounds. They present the results of field and laboratory tests on buried landmines which demonstrate their ability to detect the explosive signatures associated with these objects

Software tool for coupling chromatographic total ion current dependencies of GC/MSD and MCC/IMS

Bunkowski A. Software tool for coupling chromatographic total ion current dependencies of GC/MSD and MCC/IMS. Int. J. Ion Mobil. Spectrom. 2010;13(3-4):169-175