The work presented here follows several others in investigating what capabilities, if any, ambient mass spectrometry might have toward the analysis of compounds commonly associated with smokeless propellant powders. This family of instrumental techniques has attracted curiosity from the field of forensic science due to its desirable properties such as rapid collection of information-rich data, combined with minimal requirements for sample mass and preparation. Experiments were conducted with a "Direct Sample Analysis" ion source integrated with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The ionization behaviors of nitroglycerin, methyl and ethyl centralite, akardite, diphenylamine, nitrosodiphenylamine, and nitrated diphenylamine derivatives were investigated specifically, with accurate-mass data presented for each. Diphenylamine standards were used to demonstrate the performance of this instrument, which exhibited good response linearity across 1 order of magnitude and sub-nanogram detection limits. Thirty smokeless powder extracts, recovered from ammunition potentially in circulation within Australia, were analyzed to determine whether the technique is appropriate for rapid analysis of smokeless powder particles. Results demonstrated that the technique might be applied to compare individual particles with each other or to a database. Such a capability may be of value in the examination of explosive devices containing smokeless powder, postblast residues therefrom, or muzzle discharge from a close-range shooting. However, when efforts were made to detect residues from the hands of a volunteer shooter, only some returned positive results, and a high background signal from the sample collection stub indicates that detection using this instrument is thus far insufficiently reliable.

中文翻译：

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实事求是：一种通过环境质谱分析无烟粉末的方法。

此处介绍的工作紧随其他几项研究之后，研究环境质谱在分析通常与无烟推进剂粉末相关的化合物时可能具有的功能（如果有）。该仪器技术家族因其理想的特性（例如快速收集信息丰富的数据，以及对样品质量和制备的最低要求）而吸引了法医学领域的好奇。实验是使用集成了飞行时间质谱仪的“直接样品分析”离子源进行的。专门研究了硝酸甘油，甲基和乙基中心石，赤霞石，二苯胺，亚硝基二苯胺和硝化二苯胺衍生物的电离行为，并给出了每种物质的精确质量数据。二苯胺标准品用于证明该仪器的性能，该仪器在1个数量级和亚纳米级检出限内显示出良好的响应线性。对可能从澳大利亚境内流通的弹药中回收的三十种无烟粉末提取物进行了分析，以确定该技术是否适合快速分析无烟粉末颗粒。结果表明，该技术可能适用于相互比较单个粒子或将其与数据库进行比较。这种功能在检查包含无烟粉末，爆炸后残留物或近距离射击的枪口排放的爆炸装置时可能有价值。但是，当努力检测志愿者射手手中的残留物时，只有一些返回了阳性结果，