| abstract |
A method for detecting a chemical substance comprising: collecting a sample of substance; mixing the sample with at least one additive within a reaction chamber where the at least one additive includes at least one organic acid or organic acid ester; using an ionisation source to produce an adduct from the sample and the at least one additive, where the adduct includes the at least one additive and a dissociated ion from the sample; performing a spectrometric analysis of the adduct; and identifying the sample using comparative spectrometric data. Preferably the method is for the detection of a nitro-based compound, especially an explosive such as ammonium nitrate, ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO), urea nitrate, trinitrotoluene (TNT), ethylene glycol dinitrate (EGDN), nitroglycerin, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), high melting explosive (HMX) or research department explosive (RDX). Preferably the additive comprises benzoic acid, oxalic acid, or lactic acid. Also claimed is a substance detection system. The substance detection system is preferably a mass spectrometer. |