Cyclodextrin-assisted capillary electrophoresis for determination of the cyclic nitramine explosives RDX, HMX and CL-20

A sulfobutyl ether–β-cyclodextrin-assisted electrokinetic chromatographic method was developed to rapidly resolve and detect the cyclic nitramine explosives 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaaza-isowurtzitane (CL-20), octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and their related degradation intermediates in environmental samples. Development of the electrophoretic method required the measurement of the aqueous solubility of CL-20 which was determined to be 3.59±0.74 mg/l at 25 °C (95% confidence interval, n =3). The performance of the method was then compared to results obtained from existing high-performance liquid chromatography methods including US Environmental Protection Agency method 8330.