The Differentiation of the Volatile Organic Signatures of Individuals Through SPME-GC/MS of Characteristic Human Scent Compounds

• Published in: Journal of forensic sciences Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 50 - 57
• Main Authors: Curran, Allison M., Prada, Paola A., Furton, Kenneth G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2010; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biometry - methods; Chromatography; Female; Forensic chemistry; Forensic Medicine - methods; forensic science; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Hand; human scent evidence; Humans; individualization; Male; Mass spectrometry; Odorants; Odors; primary odor; solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; Solid Phase Microextraction; Spearman Rank Correlations; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 0022-1198; 1556-4029; 1556-4029
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01236.x

:  Human scent evidence is utilized as an investigative tool through canine scent discriminations based on the premise that human scent is an individualizing characteristic. This study describes the development of what is effectively a human scent barcode consisting of the relative ratios of an individual’s “primary odor” compounds utilized to determine a reproducible and individualizing profile which can be stored in a searchable database for a proof of concept of human scent as a biometric measure. Triplicate hand odor samples were evaluated from 10 subjects utilizing solid phase micro‐extraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME‐GC/MS) and compared via Spearman Rank Correlations. Narrowing the compounds considered for each subject to only those common in all three samples, or a subject’s “primary odor constituents,” produced a greater degree of both individualization and discrimination; at both correlation thresholds of 0.9 and 0.8, the individuals were correctly discriminated and identified in 99.54% of the cases.