NCJ Number
209747
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 50 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2005 Pages: 582-592
Date Published
May 2005
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article describes a sensitive and simple color test for the improvised explosive urea nitrate.
Abstract
Urea nitrate is a powerful improvised explosive that is frequently abused by terrorists. Urea nitrate in its pure form is a white crystalline powder indistinguishable from sugar. It is thus imperative to develop a detection test for urea nitrate that can be employed in various scenarios, particularly in the field. The urea nitrate test described in this article is simple, accurate, and sensitive. It involves the formation of a red pigment upon the reaction between urea nitrate and p-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (p-DMAC) under neutral conditions. This test works because the urea itself, the starting material for explosive urea nitrate, will not react with p-DMAC under the same conditions. Additionally, other common sources of contamination such as fertilizers, medications containing urea moiety, and various amines do not produce the red pigment with p-DMAC. The p-DMAC test was applied to 10 terrorist cases and in each case the result was in agreement with results obtained by instrumental techniques such as GC/MS and XRD. Figures, tables, references