Use of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE)/gas chromatography–electron capture detection (GC–ECD) for the determination of biodegradation intermediates of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) in soils

A rapid, sensitive, and reproducible method was developed for quantitative determination of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and its biodegradation intermediates, hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine (MNX), hexahydro-1,3-dinitroso-5-nitro-1,3,5-triazine (DNX), and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitroso-1,3,5-triazine (TNX) in soils. RDX, MNX, DNX, or TNX was extracted from soil by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), followed by cleanup using florisil. Instrumental analysis was performed using gas chromatography with electron capture detection (GC–ECD), which was highly sensitive to the parent explosive and its metabolites. The method detection limits (MDLs) were 0.243, 0.095, 0.138, and 0.057 ng/g for RDX, MNX, DNX, and TNX, respectively. The method gave high recovery (98–102%), good precision (0.22–5.14%), and reproducibility, and proved to be suitable for real world sample analysis.