UK scientists have devised a simple route to detecting illicit drugs and their metabolites in dusted fingerprints.  

Frederick Rowell of ROAR Particles Ltd in Durham, have developed a silica dusting agent that not only develops fingerprints, but also allows for the direct detection of drugs in the fingerprints by mass spectrometry.  Rowell says that there is considerable interest in being able to obtain additional information from developed fingerprints, especially since a considerable fraction are smudged and therefore do not provide a clear image for routine identification purposes.

A hydrophobic silica dusting agent was used to develop fingerprints, which were then lifted using commercial tape.  The lifted fingerprints subsequently underwent direct analysis by mass spectrometry, analysing for various chemical residues within the print.  The procedure successfully confirmed the presence of parent drug compounds and their metabolites, providing unique fragmentation patterns for each chemical.  

Graham Cooks of Purdue University in West Lafayette, US, says that the significance of this work lies in the fact that this technique 'can be used to record chemical fingerprints' and 'show the distribution of chemicals associated with latent fingerprints'.  Cooks adds that the advantage of this method over existing ones is the 'dual use of powder as a latent print dust and as a mass spectroscopy matrix'.

'We need to undertake trials for these contact residues and for biomarkers with large numbers of individuals before our methods can be considered for routine forensic analysis,' says Rowell.  'In order to achieve maximum sensitivity for detecting chemicals present in trace amounts, it is necessary to reduce interference in the analysis step from the major components. This is proving a challenge but we think we have found a simple but effective solution.'

Mary Badcock

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