Development of new technology to identify the explosives and chemical weapons used in terrorist attacks.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20H02399
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 25020:Safety engineering-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Imasaka Tomoko 九州大学, 芸術工学研究院, 講師 (90193721)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: テロ安全対策 / レーザーイオン化 / 質量分析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Terrorist attacks are occurring frequently in various countries around the world, and it needs to develop a technique to suppress this undesirable events. If the substances used in the terrorist attacks can be identified by the scientific analysis of the residues, it will prevent new terrorism in the future. A variety of techniques have been developed for this purpose. However, there are problems in terms of sensitivity and selectivity. Laser ionization mass spectrometry is useful to selectively ionize a target substance by optimizing the wavelength, suppressing dissociation of a molecule. We developed a mass spectrometer using a femtosecond Yb laser as an ionization source for practical trace analysis.

Free Research Field

分析化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

世界各国では爆発物や向精神薬、我が国ではサリンによるテロ事件などが起こっている。もしテロ活動を検証し、実施者を特定できればその抑止力になる。質量分析法は実試料中の多くの夾雑物の影響を抑制して目的物質を選択的に分析できるが、例えば爆発物の過酸化アセトンを電子でイオン化すると分子が解離するので、同定することが難しい。フェムト秒レーザーでイオン化すると分子の解離が抑制され、高い感度と“ほどよい”選択性で分析できる。また分析対象物や類似体を一斉に微量分析することができる。