Trace analysis of peroxide explosives by high performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-APCI-MS/MS) for forensic applications.

An HPLC-APCI-MS(/MS) method for the (trace) analysis of the most commonly encountered peroxide explosives, hexamethylenetriperoxidediamine (HMTD) and triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), has been developed. With this method, HMTD and TATP have been analyzed in the same run. (Pseudo-)molecular ions of these peroxides have been obtained as base peak under the same condition.