Benzoic acid derivatives as luminescent sublimation dyes in cyanoacrylate fuming of latent fingerprints

Abstract

Development of latent prints employing cyanoacrylate ester (CA) can be a multistep process including CA fuming and subsequent fluorescent staining to produce fingerprints of sufficient contrast for comparison work. To enable a single-step CA fuming-staining process, a selection of fluorophores have been developed as sublimation dyes in CA fuming. A greater array of such luminescent sublimation dyes would allow users greater flexibility in selecting a particular dye-CA combination to best suit their processing needs. Toward this end, six benzoic acid derivatives were evaluated for use as luminescent sublimation dyes under elementary CA fuming conditions using a single non-porous surface type and an inexpensive handheld UV lamp for excitation.Two benzoic acid derivatives, 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (salicylic acid) and 2-aminobenzoic acid (anthranilic acid), were identified as new potential luminescent sublimation dyes with stained fingerprints excited at 254 nm. The fluorescence intensity and stability of prints produced via the sublimation of CA with 2-hydroxybenzoic acid and 2-aminobenzoic acid were evaluated over approximately six weeks using image and statistical analysis.

Interpol review of fingermarks and other body impressions (2019 – 2022)

“…Preliminary/Pilot studies – A tetraphenylethene-based molecule was proposed as a new CA dye [ 245 ]. DMAB 0.5% (w/w) [ 246 ], salicylic acid, and anthranilic acid [ 247 ] were identified as promising fluorophores to be integrated in a one-step CA process. The detection performances and DNA recovery abilities of four CA products (i.e., traditional CA, Cyano-Shot™, The Finder™, and LCA) and two dyes (i.e., R6G and Ardrox) were compared [ 248 ] – note: given that sebum-rich marks and home-made fuming cabinet without heating and humidity controls were used in this study, the conclusions must be taken with caution and are hence not detailed in this report.…”

Simple Donor–π–Acceptor Compounds Exhibiting Aggregation-Induced Emission as Hidden Fingerprints Detecting Agents

“…This process can be performed in two stages or one step [36]. The one-step approach is more challenging because phosphors must be developed to be sublimated as standard smoke [37]. The universal approach is the two-stage approach, where the first stage is fuming, followed by reinforcement by applying a fluorescent powder [38].…”