Journal of Forensic Research

Novel Optimization of HMTD Traces Detection by HS-SPME-GC/MS and HS-SPME-GC/μECD

Abstract

Hamid Stambouli, Aziz El Bouri, Abdelouahed Dahrouch, Abdelfattah Boukhaled and Taoufik Bouayoun

HMTD is known for its decomposition at low temperatures. The use of common techniques such as GC/MS and GC/μECD for its detection in liquid solutions or solid traces requires the control of analytical conditions. The present work proposes two sensitive methods using GC/MS and GC/μECD where the injector temperature is set at 150°C to analyse successfully the concentrations of 0.1 ng (10-4 mg/mL) and 0.05 ng (0.5-10.4 mg/mL) of HMTD in acetone solutions. The analysis of solid traces of HMTD was performed with the same methods by adopting the headspace mode using the SPME fibre. The exposure the fibre in the headspace during 10 min at ambient temperature (22°C) and the desorption in the injector at 150°C, allow the detection of HMTD without degradation. In addition, to simulate crater sample, 3 mg of HMTD are mixed to 150 g of soil (0.002%). In this case, HMTD was also successfully detected by HS-SPME-GC/MS and HS-SPMEGC/μECD after 1 h exposure of the fibre at 22°C. These results demonstrate the performance of these optimized methods for trace analysis of HMTD.