Assessment of solvents for the recovery of nitroglycerine from hands using cotton swabs
Twibell, J.D.; Home, J.M.; Smalldon, K.W.; Higgs, D.G.; Hayes, T.S.
Journal of Forensic Sciences 27(4): 792-800
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-1198 PMID: 6816899 Document Number: 183039
Eight solvents were compared for their relative efficiency in removing nitroglycerine from the hands of persons handling explosives. The amount of interfering material also removed from the hands by the cotton swabs and the stability of the nitroglycerine in the solvent used were also investigated. Aqueous solvents yielded the best recoveries, when the extracts were partially purified by thin-layer chromatography before analysis, but the explosive was degraded rapidly by microorganisms that grew in the solutions. Of the aqueous, organic, and polar solvents tested, ethanol was found to offer the most complete, consistent, and stable recovery.