Analysis of black powder by ion mobility-time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Ion mobility-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (IM-TOFMS) was used to identify and correlate response ions associated with three black powder samples by mass and mobility. Vapors produced by thermal desorption of the black powders were ionized by a (63)Ni source; subsequent response ions were separated and identified using IM-TOFMS. The same response ions were found for each black powder regardless of geographic origin. The most intense mass and mobility peaks were attributed to ionic forms of sulfur allotropes ((32)S(n)(-), where n = 1-5). Vapor samples from GOEX black powder were also analyzed by two stand-alone ion mobility spectrometry systems, yielding an average reduced mobility value (K(o)) of 2.28 +/- 0.02 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) for black powder across all three instruments.