Applying Chromatography to Investigate Volatile Ignitable Liquids in Fire Debris Residue
Click the Poster to View Full Screen, Right click to save image
Susel Suarez
College:
The Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology
Major:
Chemistry
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Matthew Mongelli, Subhasish Chatterjee
Abstract:
The use of chromatography is highly prevalent in various areas of forensic chemistry. One specific area of forensic chemistry where chromatography is imperative is in the analysis of fire debris residue. Analyzing fire debris residues proves to be a challenging task when often times multiple analytes are present in one single matrix. Chromatography is used to separate the components of a sample and spectroscopy is used to detect and identify the individual components. Gas chromatography (GC) allows for the separation of volatile ignitable liquids such as gasoline and ethanol. Recent studies have compared various chromatographic methods and have shown that of the plethora of instruments that are used in forensic labs, gas chromatography is the most common and effective technique used in the laboratory. Recent studies have also shown that the most effective detector paired with GC has been found to be mass spectrometry (MS). The reason as to why GS and MS work so well together, as per recent studies, is due to the fact that fire debris samples tested with the instrument are usually volatile.