This is an Application Brief and does not contain a detailed Experimental section.
UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography (UPC2) was successfully used to demonstrate the separation of 14 explosives in five minutes.
Rapid analysis of 14 explosives was achieved.
Explosives are typically analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) or liquid chromatography (LC); however, long analysis times are encountered when using these analytical techniques. In addition, GC cannot be used for thermally labile compounds like tetryl. UltraPerformance Convergence Chromatography (UPC2) was successfully used to demonstrate the separation of 14 explosives in five minutes.
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System: |
ACQUITY UPC2 |
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Detection: |
Photodiode Array (PDA) PDA 3D Channel PDA, 205 to 400 nm; PDA 2D Channel 220 nm at 4.8 nm resolution (compensated 500 to 600 nm) |
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Column: |
ACQUITY UPC2 HSS C18 3.0 x 100 mm, 1.8 μm |
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Mobile phase A: |
CO2 |
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Mobile phase B: |
Acetonitrile |
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Wash solvents: |
70:30 methanol/isopropanol |
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Separation mode: |
Start at 1% B for 0.5 min, then gradient to 15% B over 2.5 min, hold for 0.5 min, back to 1% B in 0.1 min |
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Flow rate: |
2.0 mL/min |
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UPC2 Manager: |
1500 psi |
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Column temp.: |
65 °C |
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Sample temp.: |
10 °C |
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Injection volume: |
1.0 μL |
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Run time: |
5.0 min |
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Software: |
Empower 3 |
Explosives analysis is performed not only by environmental laboratories but also by manufacturers of reference standards for regulated EPA methods. The current methods have long analysis times, and must be run on orthogonal columns (i.e., C18 and either cyano or phenyl) to achieve the required chromatographic resolution. UPC2 achieves baseline resolution for 14 common explosives in a five-minute method.
Figure 1. UPC2 chromatogram for 14 explosives using 0.07 mg/mL of acetonitrile.
Rapid analysis of 14 explosives was achieved. UPC2 is amenable to thermally labile compounds like tetryl. It is also possible to separate structural isomers of nitro-aromatic compounds, as demonstrated by the separation of different nitrotoluene isomers.
720004499, November 2012
