Česká společnost pro hmotnostní spektrometrii

(13. ročník České konference hmotnostní spektrometrie a 11. Neformální proteomické setkání - WeS-02)
Analyses of human scent samples

Veronika Škeříková ^1 *, Ulrika Malá ¹, Štěpán Urban ¹

1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical-Engineering, UCT Prague, Prague, CZECH REPUB

Abstrakt

The main role in the identification of a person based on a scent trail currently play specially trained dogs. The currently used method is very subjective and the result depends on many factors, but above all on the trainer’s knowledge of the location of the target scent can.
Our research is focused on finding an objective method for analysing human body scent. The currently used sorbent for scent sampling in Czech Republic is a non-woven fabric with the trade name Aratex®. Due to the presented impurities, it is absolutely unsuitable for instrumental analysis of human odor (olfacttronic analysis). Therefor, a material, which would be sufficiently clean (or cleanable), was searched for. Resistant materials such as glass or teflon are offered, or currently widely used nanotextiles or non-woven textiles.
Human transdermal scent collected on sorbent was extracted with ethanol. Extraction was supported by shaking and ultrasound. The extract was evaporated to dryness and the residue was dissolved in ethanol and analysed using a GCxGC-MS. Due to the possible losses during extraction, direct injection using thermal desorption was also tested. Liquid injection enables the use of sorbents, which decompose at higher temperatures (nanotextiles and non-woven textile materials). Of these materials, the sterile cover gauze squares appear to be the most promising. However, the cleanest material with the lowest amount of impurities, is glass and Teflon. However, both materials are, unlike textile materials, reusable. Both, glass and Teflon, are thermally stabile and can be directly desorb by high temperature. Thermal desorption not only reduces sample losses, but also shortens the time required for sample preparation and solvent consumption.

* Korespondující autor: Veronika.Skerikova@vscht.cz

Poděkování:

This work is supported by Ministry of Interior of Czech Republic by the project No. VJ01010123.