A simple voltammetric method to evaluate the firing distance through determination of nitrocellulose

Nitrocellulose (NC) is the main component of propellants for small firearm ammunitions. Even though NC particles are ejected from gun barrels together with bullets and they are often recovered on close-to-muzzle targets, quantitative analysis of nitrocellulose for forensic purposes has been neglected so far. Moreover, although the presence of the nitroester groups makes nitrocellulose electroactive, its electrochemical determination has been poorly considered in literature. In this paper, a quantitative differential pulse voltammetric method for the analysis of nitrocellulose in targets is suggested, with the aim of estimating its concentration decay on targets with increasing the shooting distance. The presented method works in acetonitrile/ethanol/lithium perchlorate, has a LOQ of 4 mg L-1 and linearity up to 2000 mg L-1. Ammunitions loaded with a nitrocellulose/nitroglycerine-based gunpowder were discharged to draw a calibration curve for shooting distance determination in the range from 5 cm to 120 cm. The effect of possible interfering substances (water, nitroglycerine, nitroguanidine, nitrites) was evaluated, and results are compared with literature methods.

A novel platform based on CoMn2O4-rGO/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride modified carbon paste electrode for voltammetric detection of pethidine in the presence morphine and olanzapine

The present work focuses on the development of a new electrochemical platform based on CoMn₂O₄-rGO/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride modified carbon paste electrode (CoMn₂O₄-rGO/IL/CPE) for electrochemical determination of pethidine in the presence of biological species. For the first time, the electrooxidation mechanism of pethidine in presences of morphine and olanzapine is investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technologies. The as-synthesized CoMn₂O₄-rGO nanocomposites are characterized by physicochemical measurements such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The obtained results illustrated synergistic interactions between rGO and CoMn₂O₄ structures. Also, to investigate the electrode charge-transfer resistances, electrochemical features of the resulting nanocomposites are studied via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis. Based on the result, three segmented linear ranges are observed over the range 0.08-900 μM and detection limit of 0.024 μM. Over the 10.0-40.0 μM ranges of pethidine in phosphate buffer solution (PBS-pH 7.0), suitable diffusion coefficient of 5.67 × 10^-7 cm² s^-1 is evaluated by chronoamperometry technique (CHA). Finally, the CoMn₂O₄-rGO/IL/CPE with high sensitivity, selectivity and repeatability is successfully used for determination of pethidine in real sample and drug formulation.