Explosives detection with electron-rich polymers

The application of polymeric films as alarms for explosive materials is a critical issue these days as mandated by homeland security requirements. Amongst the multiple advantageous points of applying polymer films in this area is the fact that they are cheap material, so they can be applied on a broad scale for low cost. The basic idea of the current work is based on the fact that common explosives are electron deficient because of the existence of the nitro‐groups in their chemical structures, and this causes their high affinities towards electron rich materials to form charge‐transfer complex. Our endeavor is to trace any charge‐transfer complex formation, which would definitely cause a recognizable change in their physical properties. These changes in the polymers' physical properties could be utilized as alerts for the existence of explosive materials, especially if such changes could be incorporated into sophisticated electronic circuits that would give strong for traces of explosives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.