LONDON: Police suspect that the explosive used in last week’s attacks in London was a compound known to chemists as “mother of Satan”. It is simple to make and has been the explosive of choice for extremist groups in the Middle East for many years. It is often employed by bombers in the West Bank, and was used by the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, who had packed it into his shoe in his failed attempt to bring down an American Airlines flight in 2001.

Its chemical name, acetone peroxide, betrays the simplicity of its ingredients, which can be drawn from easily available household products such as nail varnish remover.

A polymer of acetone peroxide — triacetone triperoxide (TATP) — is one of the most sensitive explosives known, being highly sensitive to impact, temperature and friction. It can be made to explode in the presence of a flame or spark.

“It is very, very dangerous,” said Hans Michels, an explosives expert at Imperial College.

“The skills of a reasonable graduate from a British university first degree who has done organic chemistry will perfectly well understand how to make it, and he could make it.”

Once the raw materials have been sourced, making the acetone peroxide is straightforward and instructions are widely available on the internet.

But the process also requires careful handling, as acetone peroxide is a very unstable chemical. “The people who make these things are properly trained to do this. You have to be extremely cautious, because a slight fault somewhere can set the whole thing off,” said Professor Michels.

TATP is often blended with a second explosive called pentaerythritol tetranitrate, which is also a key ingredient in Semtex.

This allows the TATP to remain stable for slightly longer.

“What’s worrying is that there are numerous other explosive compounds that are as easily made,” said Marina Murphy, of Chemistry & Industry magazine.

Prof Michels said that, despite TATP’s popularity in recent years, it is a relatively new explosive in the bomber’s arsenal. “If you look at the books five to 10 years ago, this material was never mentioned. Several chemists got together with evil intent and they devised all the techniques and all the warnings about how you can do this,” he said. “They’re probably the people who you should really hate most about this.”—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.