LA3273C - FSI - CFT for the Supply, Delivery and Installation of a Mass Spectrometer for Forensic Science Ireland (FSI)

The chemistry team examines a wide range of evidence types including analysis of suspect material in explosives cases and chemical unknowns. Items submitted for analysis are examined for the presence of organic and inorganic explosive substances and other materials related to explosives. Typical case work items include pipe bombs, hoax devices, suspicious powders, firework compositions and propellant powders. Ion Chromatography is one of a number of analytical techniques used in the laboratory to analyse these materials. The Ion Chromatograph (ICS6000) currently in use separates anions and cations in chemical mixtures and provides the retention times of individual components by conductivity detection. A single quad mass spectrometer is now required to add on to our existing Ion Chromatograph. Current best practice requires that at least two orthogonal techniques are used to identify a compound or component in a mixture. In most cases this is currently done with FTIR, GCMS and/or µXRF. However in some cases e.g. chemical unknowns, residues on clothing, post blast samples etc. this is not possible due to small sample volumes. Mass spectrometry is a very discriminatory technique, providing information on the structure of a compound. The combination of the retention time and mass spec data for inorganic ions would allow for identification of ions where analysis is not possible with other techniques. It would also provide further data to support the suite of techniques currently used for casework.