ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Page Count: 15

Spectroscopy of Rare Earth-Ruhemann's Purple Complexes
Ismail Mekkaoui, A
Graduate Student, Physics Department, Texas Tech University, TX

Roland Menzel, E
Professor of Physics and Chemistry and Director, Center for Forensic Studies, Texas Tech University, TX

(Received 30 April 1992; accepted 16 October 1992)

Abstract

The complexes Ruhemann's Purples form with europium or terbium salts are suitable for fingerprint development on strongly fluorescent surfaces because they show enhancement of the lanthanide luminescence via intramolecular energy transfer and because the lifetime of the luminescence is much longer than that of the usual background fluorescence. They are therefore suitable for time-resolved luminescence imaging. The complexes are useful for fingerprint staining on smooth surfaces, since they are readily prepared in solution, as well as for fingerprint detection on porous surfaces, such as paper, where the procedure is similar to the by now routine ninhydrin/zinc chloride treatment, except that the nitrate or acetate are used in many instances, instead of the chloride, in the rare earth case, depending on paper type.

Keywords:
criminalistics, fingerprints, lasers, time-resolved imaging, europium, terbium, ninhydrin, ninhydrin analogs, Ruhemann's Purple

Paper ID: JFS13436J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS13436J
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