Acetone peroxide (triacetone triperoxide, peroxyacetone, TATP, TCAP) is an organic peroxide. It is a high explosive that can be made from common household items: acetone, hydrogen peroxide, and sulfuric acid. Other strong acids such as hydrochloric acid may also be used as a catalyst. Since its precursors are readily available, it is commonly used by amateur chemists and explosive makers, often for detonators, and is sometimes found in improvised explosive devices. It takes the form of a white crystalline powder with a distinctive acrid smell.
It is highly heat, friction, and shock sensitive. Professional chemists have been injured attempting to use it. Once manufactured the material can degrade during storage, becoming less likely to explode. For its instability, it has been called the "Mother of Satan".
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The explosive was triacetone triperoxide (TATP), commonly known as acetone peroxide, one of a group of explosives based on the unstable peroxide group of compounds. TATP is one of the most sensitive explosives known, being extremely sensitive to impact, temperature change and friction. The TATP was blended with a second explosive called pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), which is also a key ingredient in Semtex.
According to the FBI agent Margaret Cronin, an expert witness on air crime, in a much used quote from her testimony at Reid's trial, the explosive "if placed beside an outer wall could have or would have created a large hole in the fuselage of the plane".
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The delicate nature of TATP might warn off sensible people, but not terrorists. TATP comes with two big advantages. First of all, unlike other types of explosive, it cannot be detected by sniffer dogs, so it is easier to smuggle into airports and onto airplanes. The second advantage is one of the main reasons that this explosive is used at all - it is very easy to synthesise in clandestine labs.
TATP is prepared from three ingredients that are readily available in local stores. All you need are acetone, hydrogen peroxide and any mineral acid (such as hydrochloric acid). The method of manufacture is so well-known that it appears in terrorist cookbooks and on many different sites on the World-Wide Web
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On 7 July, four bomb blasts on London’s transport system killed at least 54 people and injured hundreds more. Evidence led investigators to search houses in Leeds, where three of the four suspected suicide bombers lived. In one house they found traces of triacetone triperoxide (TATP). The white crystalline powder is so unstable that police immediately widened the cordoned-off area and employed a no-fly zone around the site.
The substance is extremely shock-sensitive – knocking or grinding the powder can cause it to explode – and is also highly flammable. Even trained chemists have been injured while attempting to use it. Because of this, experts believe that a stabiliser was used to allow it to be transported.
Reid claimed that his explosives were obtained from a Czech or Slovak contact in Amsterdam. The source of the London bombers’ explosives is currently unknown, though Blair says that Pakistan is among the countries included in the search.
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"The delicate nature of TATP might warn off sensible people, but not terrorists. TATP comes with two big advantages. First of all, unlike other types of explosive, it cannot be detected by sniffer dogs, so it is easier to smuggle into airports and onto airplanes. The second advantage is one of the main reasons that this explosive is used at all - it is very easy to synthesise in clandestine labs.
On 7 July, four bomb blasts on London’s transport system killed at least 54 people and injured hundreds more. Evidence led investigators to search houses in Leeds, where three of the four suspected suicide bombers lived. In one house they found traces of triacetone triperoxide (TATP). The white crystalline powder is so unstable that police immediately widened the cordoned-off area and employed a no-fly zone around the site.
The substance is extremely shock-sensitive – knocking or grinding the powder can cause it to explode – and is also highly flammable. Even trained chemists have been injured while attempting to use it. Because of this, experts believe that a stabiliser was used to allow it to be transported.
Reid claimed that his explosives were obtained from a Czech or Slovak contact in Amsterdam. The source of the London bombers’ explosives is currently unknown, though Blair says that Pakistan is among the countries included in the search."