Abstract
This study is focused on finding an optimal preparation of the human scent samples for their detailed chemical analysis in connection with the possible forensic identifications of human individuals in the future. At the present time, the scent identification of people is carried out nearly exclusively using specially trained dogs. It is assumed that the human scent contains a certain group of compounds which allows the identification of people, the so-called human scent signature; however, its chemical composition is completely unknown, as of now. The principal problem of human scent studies consists in the very low concentrations of thousands of the scent compounds, whereas their relative concentrations are usually dramatically different. It seems to be obvious that the most appropriate analytical technique for these thousands of different chemical compounds is GC/MS. However, it is also necessary to find the most suitable sorbent material for human scent collection, an extraction solvent, and a pre-concentration technique. The selection of the appropriate gas chromatographic method is also important to achieve the optimal resolution of the targeted compounds. Of course, in the first instance, it is necessary to decide what it means “the most suitable” for human scent chemical analysis.
Highlights
The human skin scent is a complex chemical mixture of several thousands of more or less volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with dramatically different abundances, whereas the relative concentrations of some compounds significantly vary over time (Prada et al 2014)
Glass beads were selected as the best sorbent for the human scent collection, since the possibility of its faultless purification allowed a minimalization of the undesirable contaminations of the scent samples
Even though glass has worse sorption properties than, e.g., gauze or non-woven fabrics, the higher-order cleanness of the glass sorbent provided the best results in our scent chemical analyses
Summary
The human skin scent is a complex chemical mixture of several thousands of more or less volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with dramatically different abundances, whereas the relative concentrations of some compounds significantly vary over time (Prada et al 2014). The squares of polypropylene non-woven fabric (PPWNF) from Raucodrape® (cut to 5 × 5 cm) were placed into beakers with ethanol and ultrasonicated for 10 min in a water bath. This procedure was repeated three times with ethanol and three times with hexane. The squares of acetate cellulose (ACC, 5 × 5 cm) were placed into beakers with ethanol and ultrasonicated for 20 min in a water bath The squares of polyurethane (PUR) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF, 5 × 5 cm) were placed into beakers with hexane and ultrasonicated for 20 min in a water bath Compounds corresponding to the individual peaks were identified according to the retention
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