Development of a chemiluminescent ELISA for TNT detection

TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) is one of the most employed explosives in the 20th century and at the same time a well known environmental pollutant for its toxicity. For these reasons the possibility of its detection, particularly at low concentrations, is still a topical goal: we can prevent acts of terrorism or identify the explosive used for these purposes or get an early sign of environmental pollution. Many methods have been reported for TNT detection, from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography with various system of detection, to immunoassay. We have developed an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with chemiluminescent detection (CL-ELISA), by using a commercially available monoclonal antibody and by testing 13 different specially synthesized hapten conjugates and we applied it to real samples obtained from the explosion by TNT of several objects.