"TATP and other explosives of the peroxide family are used
extensively by terrorist organizations around the world because they
are easy to prepare and very difficult to detect. Many of the
devastating suicide attacks by terrorists over the past few years
involved TATP, including the bus explosions in Israel," said lead
researcher Professor Ehud Keinan of the Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology. "They are also dangerous to those who prepare them. This
is the reason for the frequent 'work accidents' that have occurred in
the terrorists' labs."
The researchers are in negotiations to commercialize the PET, and
interest from law enforcement agencies has been high, according to
Keinan.
Findings detailing the unique qualities of TATP, published January 6,
2005 in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, result from
collaborative research by Technion Prof. Keinan, who is also a
faculty member at The Scripps Research Institute; Prof. Yehuda Zeiri
of Israel's Nuclear Research Center in the Negev; Professors Ronnie
Kosloff and Joseph Almog of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and
their co-workers.
Israeli researchers have developed a device that identifies a
previously undetectable explosive commonly used by terrorists. Once a
suspicious substance is located, a small sample is placed in the
device, named Peroxide Explosive Tester (PET), to determine whether
or not it is in fact triacetone triperoxide (TATP). The PET - which
resembles a three-color ballpoint pen - then releases three chemical
mixtures that change color when they interact with TATP.