Crouch, R.A., J.C. Smith, B.S. Stromer, C.T. Hubley, S. Beal, G.R. Lotufo, A.D. Butler, et al. SERDP Project ER-2722, 99 pp, 2019

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods to extract, pre-concentrate, and analytically separate and quantify 24 legacy and insensitive munition (IM) compounds were developed as a single, standardized method for simultaneous analysis in environmental matrices. The solid-phase extraction method was tested on 5 water sources, including river, sea, and groundwater. A 2-step solvent extraction method was developed and tested on 5 field soils. Recoveries of all 24 compounds of interest for all soils were within quality systems manual (QSM) limits. A single 18-h solvent extraction method was developed for soil-dwelling invertebrate, freshwater vertebrate, marine invertebrate, and perennial plant tissues. For most tissues, ≥20 compounds of interest were recovered within current QSM limits. In order to address observed analytical interferences, a post-extraction preparative chromatographic method was developed to improve recoveries of several compounds in tissues, including nitroguanidine and 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one. New HPLC methods reduced total analytical run time by ~25% versus the use of separate legacy and IM methods and could reduce labor and supply costs by 50%. https://www.serdp-estcp.org/content/download/49779/490495/file/ER-2722%20Final%20Report.pdf