Tropolone reacts with amino acids to form adducts that generate contrast on highly fluorescent paper surfaces upon UV irradiation. Furthermore, the conjugated seven-membered ring of tropolone enables secondary chemical treatments; demonstrated here using two diazonium salts, 4-methoxybenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate (4MBD) and 4-nitrobenzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate (4NBD). These produce yellow and red dyed fingermarks, respectively. While tropolone treatment is rapid to effect and compatible with ninhydrin in a detection sequence, the methodology proved less effective than current chemical visualisation treatments. Nevertheless, this work unambiguously demonstrates the reactivity of tropolone towards fingermark residues and may inspire future generations of non-benzenoid chemical visualisation treatments.
The work describes a new chemical means of visualising latent fingerprints (fingermarks) using tropolone. Tropolone reacts with amino acids within the fingermark residue to form adducts that absorb UV radiation. These adducts provide useful contrast on highly-fluorescent prous surfaces will illuminated with UV radiation. The conjugated seven-membered ring of the tropolone adduct can be reacted further diazonium salts, which is demonstrated here with formation of two dyes. The methodology is extremely rapid, occurring in minutes with mild heating, and can be applied before ninhydrin in a chemical detection sequence. <br>
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.