ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 6 April 2005
Page Count: 9

Analysis of Fiber Dyes By Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) with Electrospray Ionization: Discriminating Between Dyes with Indistinguishable UV-Visible Absorption Spectra
Fookes, BG
University of Central Florida, FL

Sigman, ME
National Center for Forensic Science and Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, FL

Huang, M
National Center for Forensic Science, University of Central Florida, FL

Russo, R
University of Central Florida, FL

(Received 2 June 2004; accepted 30 October 2004)

Abstract

Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is shown to provide high discriminating power for the identification of textile dyes that can not be reliably distinguished on the basis of their UV/visible absorption profile. Seven pairs of commercial dyes having nearly identical UV/visible absorption profiles and absorption maxima within 5 nm, were identified successfully by LC-MS. Two pairs of cotton fibers, which were indistinguishable by microspectrophotometry, were differentiated by LC-MS. A single wavelength UV/visible detector was used to monitoring dye elution from the column. The utility of the method for comparing questioned and known fibers is discussed.

Keywords:
forensic science, fiber dye identification, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, UV/visible detection

Paper ID: JFS2004223
DOI: 10.1520/JFS2004223
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.