Determination of triacetone triperoxide using ultraviolet femtosecond multiphoton ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

• A UV ultrashort laser pulse was useful for ionization of triacetone triperoxide.
• A molecular ion was strongly enhanced in multiphoton ionization mass spectrometry.
• Triacetone triperoxide in the human blood was measured without any interferences.
• An organic compound of phorone was formed in the human blood from acetone.

Triacetone triperoxide (TATP), an explosive compound, was measured using gas chromatography combined with multiphoton ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/MPI-TOFMS). By decreasing the pulse width of a femtosecond laser from 80 to 35 fs, a molecular ion was drastically enhanced and was measured as one of the major ions in the mass spectrum. The detection limits obtained using the molecular (M+) and fragment (C2H3O+) ions were similar or slightly superior to those obtained using conventional mass spectrometry based on electron and chemical ionization. In order to improve the reliability, an isotope of TATP, i.e., TATP-d18, was synthesized and used as an internal standard in the trace analysis of TATP in a sample of human blood. TATP could be identified in a two-dimensional display, even though numerous interfering compounds were present in the sample. Acetone, which is frequently used as a solvent in sampling TATP, produced a chemical species with a retention time nearly identical to that of TATP and provided a C2H3O+ fragment ion that was employed for measuring a chromatogram of TATP in conventional MS. This compound, the structure of which was assigned as phorone, was clearly differentiated from TATP based on a molecular ion observable in MPI-TOFMS.

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