Chemical ionisation mass spectra of explosives

Abstract

Abstract The chemical ionisation mass spectra of a number of representative explosives have been obtained using hydrogen as reagent gas. Fragmentation modes of the protonated molecular ions tend to be simple although some rearrangements have been noted. Loss of a radical from an even electron parent ion has been observed. The use of ‘ghost spectra’ for confirmation of the molecular weight of the sample is stressed: these consist of ions of low abundance resulting from reactions between sample ions and sample molecules. Labelling studies were carried out using deuterium as reagent gas.