HPLC Determination of Target Explosive Compounds in Water

Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet absorbance detection method to determine the 14 explosives and related compounds specified in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Method 8330A in environmental water samples.

Application Note 1066: Sensitive Determination of Explosive Compounds in Water demonstrates that this approach eliminates the labor associated with off-line extraction and provides a convenient method that achieves reduced method detection limits (less than 0.35 μg/mL) when determining these compounds in water.

Residual explosive materials and their degradation products are highly toxic to the environment and therefore require monitoring.

Methods previously used to determine these substances are time consuming, require large amounts or reagents, or are inexact when dealing with thermally unstable or volatile substances.

This new HPLC method, performed on a rapid separation LC system with instrument-control software, is not subject to those limitations.