Abstract

Latent fingerprints consist of natural secretions found on the skin surface and external contaminants such as cosmetics and food material. The deposited residue is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds and the exact composition is, to a certain extent, unique to that fingerprint and the individual that left it. Chemical information from latent fingerprints may, in the future, provide intelligence information about a suspect such as age, sex or their personal habits. Techniques which have been used to study latent fingerprints include chromatographic techniques such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectroscopy (FT-IR) (Croxton et al., 2006, Ricci et al., 2007). Very little work has been done to date employing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for the analysis of latent fingerprints.