• Corpus ID: 32013838

Forensic Discrimination of Lipsticks by Thin Layer Chromatography and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

@inproceedings{Fahmi2011ForensicDO,
  title={Forensic Discrimination of Lipsticks by Thin Layer Chromatography and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry},
  author={Ahmad Fahmi and Yathindra Marimuthu and Chang Kah Haw and Nurul Fatihah and Nik Fakhuruddin and Nik Hassan and Yew Chong},
  year={2011}
}

• Ahmad Fahmi, Yathindra Marimuthu, +4 authors Yew Chong
• Published 2011
• Environmental Science

Cosmetic evidence such as lipstick recovered from a crime scene can prove useful to link a suspect with the victim or crime scene and therefore need to be carefully analysed during crime investigation. 53 lipstick samples of different brands of similar colour were selected for this study. Colouring agent was analysed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and organic components were subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Using three different solvent systems (methylene chloride; chloroform: methanol: water (50: 15: 2), ethyl acetate: methanol: ammonium hydroxide (5: 1: 1)) by TLC, lipstick samples of colours indistinguishable on visual observation could be grouped into eight subgroups. Subsequent GC-MS analysis enabled identification of all the samples by comparing chromatograms acquired by scan mode. Lipstick sample from the scene of crime and from suspected sources can be analysed using both these techniques and comparison of pattern of band separation and chromatogram can aid in discriminating lipstick traces in a simple and quick manner.