Characterization of the volatile organic compounds present in the headspace of decomposing human remains

Forensic Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds from Decomposed Remains in a Soil Environment

“…The high degree of variability in the reported compounds is in part due to the range of decomposition environments studied. Decomposition VOCs have been analysed from buried remains and grave soil (Vass et al 2004(Vass et al , 2008Brasseur et al 2012 ;Vass 2012 ), deposition on the soil surface (Dekeirsschieter et al 2009Stadler et al 2013 ), case studies from aqueous environments (Statheropoulos et al 2005(Statheropoulos et al , 2007), enclosed spaces (Statheropoulos et al 2011 ) and individual tissue samples (Hoffman et al 2009 ;Cablk et al 2012 ;). Each of these environments has a unique set of environmental conditions that will affect the production and availability of VOCs.…”

“…Hoffman et al ( 2009 ) examined a selection of tissue samples commonly utilized as canine training aids. None of the 14 samples analysed produced the same odour profi le, and no single compound was found in common between all samples (Hoffman et al 2009 ).…”

“…Hoffman et al ( 2009 ) examined a selection of tissue samples commonly utilized as canine training aids. None of the 14 samples analysed produced the same odour profi le, and no single compound was found in common between all samples (Hoffman et al 2009 ). Removal of the environmental infl uences and separation of tissues from the decomposition processes that occur within whole remains produces a sub-set of the profi le of decomposition odour.…”

“…A variety of collection methods are available including solid-phase microextraction (SPME) (Hoffman et al 2009 ;Kalinova et al 2009 ;DeGreeff and Furton 2011 ;Cablk et al 2012 ), thermal desorption (TD) (Vass et al 2004 ;Statheropoulos et al 2005Statheropoulos et al , 2007Vass et al 2008 ;Stadler et al 2013 ) and solvent desorption Dekeirsschieter et al 2009Dekeirsschieter et al , 2012. Although all of these sampling methods utilize a solid sorbent to trap the VOCs they each have particular advantages and disadvantages.…”

“…Published studies on the analysis of decomposition VOCs have utilized general purpose capillary columns suitable for the analysis of a variety of compound classes and volatile organics. These include non-polar 100 % dimethyl polysiloxane (Vass et al 2004(Vass et al , 2008, low polarity 5 % phenyl/95 % dimethyl polysiloxane (Hoffman et al 2009 ;Cablk et al 2012 ) and slightly polar cyanopropylphenyl/ dimethyl polysiloxane (Statheropoulos et al 2005(Statheropoulos et al , 2007Dekeirsschieter et al 2009 ;Statheropoulos et al 2011 ). These studies were able to identify tens to hundreds of compounds using retention times and mass spectral data.…”