Volume 80, Nº 5 (2025)

The review justifies the list of explosives and their components (E&Cs) to be controlled. Typical objects of detection by instrumental methods of chemical analysis are described – trace amounts of E&Cs on various surfaces or their vapours in the air as indications of the presence of explosive devices or explosive charges. On the basis of these descriptions, requirements for the E&Cs detection equipment to be used are formulated. Analytical and operational characteristics of devices based on standoff laser spectroscopy methods, as well as devices based on sample selection, preparation and analysis by ion mobility spectrometry, colourimetry using reagents for colour reactions, mass spectrometry, high-speed gas chromatography, chromatography-mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, sensor methods (optical (chemical), electrical, electrochemical) have been evaluated and compared at the qualitative level. The main directions of development of instrumental analytical technologies for E&Cs detection are listed.

The possibility to identify and establish adulteration of salmon fish eggs in a simple and accessible way using PCR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, digital colourometry and chemometric processing of analysis results has been shown. The PCR method was used to determine the species affiliation of Salmoninae caviar. Absence of Salmoninae DNA in the samples of caviar, as well as the presence of DNA of other fish, indicated the adulteration of caviar products. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the near and middle regions allowed to distinguish between natural and imitated caviar after processing of diffuse reflectance spectra by principal component and hierarchical cluster analysis methods. The above methods were combined with a simpler and cheaper colourometric method of analysis. Handmade devices with LEDs emitting light in the UV and IR ranges were used. The analytical signal was recorded using smartphones via specialised applications. Chemometric processing of the spectral characteristics of the samples made it possible to distinguish natural caviar from imitated and structured caviar: in the principal component method and hierarchical cluster analysis, points from the analyzed samples were located in different quadrants and clusters.

Methodological approaches that can be applied to improve the metrological characteristics of a monoquadrupole mass analyser for the study of residual content of small organic substances in aqueous media on the example of tetracycline antibiotics are described. To improve the selectivity of the analysis it is suggested to use optimal parameters of electron optics in the source (voltage at the fragmentor) in order to achieve high yield of ion-products. It is shown that the sensitivity of the analysis can be improved by summing the signals of all formed ion-products.

The first results of blood analysis of patients of different profile departments without sample preparation using portable “electronic nose” on piezosensors are presented. During half a year on the basis of the clinical laboratory of the regional hospital the blood of patients was analyzed in parallel by traditional and sensor methods. The influence of conditions (room temperature, repetition rate, nature of modifiers of piezosensor electrodes) on the repeatability of sensor array signals was considered. Effective approaches and algorithms for processing multidimensional data of the piezosensor array for detection of the profile of volatile compounds (VOCs) of blood of small volume (not more than 0.5 ml) are proposed. The use of type II distilled water samples is effective as an internal standard when analyzing blood samples without sample preparation in a laboratory setting. Blood samples from 250 patients were analyzed. It was found that the set of piezosensors reliably distinguishes samples with pronounced pathologies of inflammation, oncology, serious problems in kidney function, the highest level of stress (surgery; traffic accident with injuries incompatible with life; burns). Other pathologies are also recorded with the proposed parameter, but its value depends on the individual state of the patient, the presence of comorbidities, the achievement of compensation, the degree of severity of negative processes on admission (for example, type 2 diabetes mellitus). The difference of VOC profiles for samples with different significant pathologies with component-by-component analysis is the subject of the next communication. The method of blood volatile compounds detection (measurement mode, repetition rate) is optimized and simple efficient algorithms for sensor data array processing are proposed.