Trace detection of explosive particulates with a phosphole oxide.

Phosphole oxides exert the ability to detect explosives, especially nitroaromatic explosives such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), by fluorescence quenching. In the image sensing of explosives sprayed with phosphole oxide, fluorescence quenching permits the visual determination of the lower detection limits of the nitroaromatic explosives in the nanogram level.