Effect of water and common salts on the vibrational spectra of high energy cyclic organic peroxides

Cyclic organic peroxides are sensitive to the presence of water and other contaminants that can deactivate the substance or make it less sensitive to chock, spark or other detonating mechanism. In the case of radiation such as laser action the opposite seems to happen, making the peroxides more sensitive to laser breakdown and local burning. In recent studies, TATP has been induced to sublimate faster during Raman analysis when it had contaminants or water, however, some studies have shown that TATP does not reacts when it is wet. This study is focused on determining if the presence of water and other contaminants affects peroxide stability and the detection by current technologies, such as IMS and vibrational spectroscopy. During the study, TATP and HMTD have been synthesized by different methods using certified chemicals and common household products. The research also focused on the effect of metal salts in the syntheses and the effect of temperature in the composition of the products. Differences in the location, shape, relative intensity, and in some cases appearance of new bands possibly due to Redox and complex formation reactions were evident. Bands corresponding to ν(O-O), ν(C-O), δ(CH3-C) and δ(C-O) were located and assigned for Raman and IR spectroscopies.