Mark Bali

PhD Student

Telephone: +61 2 6268 8810
Fax: +61 2 6268 8017
Email: mark.bali@student.adfa.edu.au
Location: PEMS Nth, Room 330

Field of Study - Chemistry

Supervisor: Dr Lynne Wallace, Dr Anthony Day

Co-Supervisor: Dr David Armitt (DSTO)

Research Topic - Rapid neutralisation of organic peroxides such as TATP and DADP

Organic peroxide explosives such as TATP are a class of energetic materials that have received increased attention in the past few years as terrorist attacks and plans have drawn attention to their power, ease of manufacture and detection difficulty. Organic peroxides are also highly sensitive to heat, friction, impact and electrostatics, making them a very difficult proposition for first responders to render safe. Whilst there are methods for destroying TATP most are only convenient in a laboratory setting, or require large quantities of reagent. Their precise mechanism also remains ambiguous. This work will examine the degradation mechanism of peroxide explosives (initially focussing on TATP) with a number of reagents and using this information to work toward a safe, field-relevant and preferably catalytic method for their rapid neutralisation.

Publications

Zhao, Y., Bali, M.S., Cullinane, C., Day, A.I., Collins, J.G., (2009) Synthesis, cytotoxicity and cucurbituril binding of triamine linked dinuclear platinum complexes, Journal of the Royal Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions, 26, 5190-5198.
Bali, M.S., Buck, D., Coe, A., Day,A.I., Collins, J.G., (2006) Cucurbituril binding of trans-[{PtCl(NH₃)₂}₂(μ-NH₂(CH₂)₈ NH₂)]²⁺ and the effect on the reaction with cysteine, Dalton Transactions, 45, 5337-5344.