Perfumes and other fragranced products are abundant in our environment and are therefore likely to be abundant in a crime scene environment. They have properties which make them ideally suited to chemical detection and analysis but are currently underutilised as a potential source of evidence and intelligence. This work provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that such products have the potential to be forensically useful when analysed using modern analytical instrumentation.
Gas Chromatography (GC), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) were each evaluated for their ability to distinguish between perfumes, deodorants and antiperspirants.
GC analysis proved to be straightforward and provided sufficient detail to distinguish between products using visual pattern matching and statistical tools such as principal component analysis. FTIR was also able to discriminate between products with some success but it was felt that HPLC produced results with insufficient product detail to distinguish between perfumes.
Using GC as the primary analytical technique, further experiments explored the most appropriate ways to store samples, recover liquid deposits from a crime scene and analyse a suspect or victim’s garments. It was also demonstrated that the change in composition of perfumes with evaporation follows a predictable pattern with forensically significant implications. This research has also established vital groundwork for future study into individual chemical profiles and lifestyle indicators
