Journal of Forensic Research

Comparison between Human Scent Compounds Collected on Cotton and Cotton Blend Materials for SPME-GC/MS Analysis

Abstract

Davia T. Hudson-Holness and Kenneth G. Furton

Human scent evidence has been used for centuries in various European countries and is now becoming more prevalent in the United States. Human scent evidence is collected either directly or indirectly and then used for scent discrimination with specially trained canines. The direct method allows the canine to smell an article of evidence, whereas the indirect method involves pre-scenting the canine with a sorbent material onto which traces of human scent have been previously collected. Even though there is no standardized collection material for human scent samples across various law enforcement agencies cotton based materials are commonly used. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of different types of sorbent materials, mainly cotton and cotton blend materials, to trap and release a combination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) previously reported as human scent compounds. Volatile Organic Compounds in the headspace of the samples were extracted and identifi ed using solid-phase micro-extraction gas chromatography / mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS). The results showed that cotton blend materials released signifi cantly greater amounts of polar compounds when compared to the pure cotton materials. It appears that the chemical composition of the materials rather than the surface morphology plays the greater role in governing the trapping and releasing capabilities of the materials for human scent collection.