Micellar electrokinetic chromatography of organic and peroxide-based explosives

[Display omitted] •MEKC method developed to separate 25 analytes relevant to organic explosives.•For the first time, a CE method has been developed for the analysis of peroxide based explosives.•Methods were applied to the post-blast analysis of residues from organic and peroxide based explosives. CE methods have been developed for the analysis of organic and peroxide-based explosives. These methods have been developed for deployment on portable, in-field instrumentation for rapid screening. Both classes of compounds are neutral and were separated using micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The effects of sample composition, separation temperature, and background electrolyte composition were investigated. The optimised separation conditions (25mM sodium tetraborate, 75mM sodium dodecyl sulfate at 25°C, detection at 200nm) were applied to the separation of 25 organic explosives in 17min, with very high efficiency (typically greater than 300,000 platesm−1) and high sensitivity (LOD typically less than 0.5mgL−1; around 1–1.5μM). A MEKC method was also developed for peroxide-based explosives (10mM sodium tetraborate, 100mM sodium dodecyl sulfate at 25°C, detection at 200nm). UV detection provided LODs between 5.5 and 45.0mgL−1 (or 31.2–304μM), which is comparable to results achieved using liquid chromatography. Importantly, no sample pre-treatment or post-column reaction was necessary and the peroxide-based explosives were not decomposed to hydrogen peroxide. Both MEKC methods have been applied to pre-blast analysis and for the detection of post-blast residues recovered from controlled, small scale detonations of organic and peroxide-based explosive devices.