Fingerprints leave their mark on surfaces that remain even if they are washed off allowing them to be detected using disulphur dinitride, claim UK scientists.
Fingerprint analysis of crime scenes has become a powerful weapon in the forensic scientist’s arsenal. The ridges present on the tips of the fingers are unique to a person. By comparison of impressions left in materials – typically flat, regular surfaces, such as glass – to a sample taken from a suspect it is possible to identify the owner of the fingerprints.
It could be possible to identify fingerprints that have been washed from surfaces
But there are occasions where fingerprints are not easily viewable or are fragmented. Here, latent fingerprinting – where obscured fingerprints are enhanced – can be used to identify an individual. In 2008, Paul Kelly and co-workers at Loughborough University noticed that the strained four-membered ring system S2N2 quickly polymerises to (SN)x in the presence of fingerprints. Detecting this polymer produces a visual image of the fingerprint.
To view the full Highlights in Chemical Technology article, please click here: Polymerisation reveals hidden fingerprints
Link to journal article
Polymerisation of S2N2 to (SN)x as a tool for the rapid imaging of fingerprints removed from metal surfaces
Stephen M. Bleay, Paul F. Kelly and Roberto S. P. King, J. Mater. Chem., 2010
DOI: 10.1039/c0jm02724c
