Recent research in our laboratory provides evidence that electrochemiluminescence quenching is a viable alternative to similar methods based on fluorescence quenching for determination of trinitrotoluene and other nitrate explosives.  This presentation will describe recent research into a method that quantifies the ECL signals observed from two different luminescent substances: (a) tris(bipyridine) ruthenium(II),  [Ru(bpy)3]2+,in the presence of the helper compound tripropylamine (TPA) at a pH of 7.5; and (b) luminol at a pH of 10.5. In the case of each luminescing substance, inverse mathematical relationships were observed between concentration of added TNT and measured ECL signal.  Our studies continued using luminol as the luminescor, and we will demonstrate the linear response between quenching factor and amount of nitrate quencher (TNT, DNP, RDX and DMDNB) in aqueous solution at micromolar concentrations.

Electrochemiluminescence quenching for determination of nitrate explosives

245th National Meeting (2013)

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