A validation study of the 1,2-indandione reagent for operational use in the UK: Part 1 - Formulation optimization

Niko Nicolasora; Rory Downham; Laura Hussey; Aoife Luscombe; Kelly Mayse; Vaughn Sears

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.04.046

A validation study of the 1,2-indandione reagent for operational use in the UK: Part 1 - Formulation optimization

Forensic Sci Int. 2018 Nov:292:242-253. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.04.046. Epub 2018 Jun 6.

Authors

Niko Nicolasora¹, Rory Downham², Laura Hussey², Aoife Luscombe¹, Kelly Mayse³, Vaughn Sears⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Surrey, Guildford, England.
² Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Sandridge, England.
³ Loughborough University, Loughborough, England.
⁴ Home Office Centre for Applied Science and Technology, Sandridge, England. Electronic address: Vaughn.Sears@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

PMID: 30322696
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.04.046

Abstract

This paper contains details of work carried out to examine the composition of 1,2-indandione formulations and to develop the most effective 1,2-indandione/zinc formulation for use under UK conditions. Previous research into the reactions of 1,2-indandione without zinc ions have concluded that formulations containing methanol produce stable hemiketals, which are less reactive to amino acids, resulting in reduced fluorescence intensity of developed fingermarks. In this study, fingermarks were treated using varying formulations of 1,2-indandione, with and without the presence of methanol and zinc ions. It was found that both were beneficial in producing marks of the highest fluorescence intensity, although too much methanol could have a detrimental effect on the quality the mark due to diffusion of ridge detail. Therefore the 1,2-indandione formulation recommended for further trials has been modified to contain both zinc ions and methanol.

Keywords: 1,2-indandione; Formulation; IND; Methanol; Optimization; Zinc.