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Forensic Analysis of Human Autopsy Tissue for the Presence of Polydimethylsiloxane (Silicone) and Volatile Cyclic Siloxanes using Macro FT‐IR, FT‐IR Spectroscopic Imaging and Headspace GC‐MS
Author(s) -
Lanzarotta Adam,
Kelley Caroline Machal
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13018
Subject(s) - polydimethylsiloxane , silicone , attenuated total reflection , gas chromatography , chemistry , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , infrared spectroscopy , analytical chemistry (journal) , gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , chromatography , mass spectrometry , materials science , organic chemistry , chemical engineering , engineering
This study describes effective and straightforward primary and secondary methods for the detection of silicone in human autopsy tissue. The primary method is polydimethylsiloxane ( PDMS ) specific and employs either macro‐attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared ( ATR ‐ FT ‐ IR ) spectroscopy for samples with a high PDMS concentration (relative to that of the matrix) or micro‐ FT ‐ IR spectroscopic imaging in a reflection/absorption modality for samples with a low PDMS concentration. Although the secondary method is not PDMS specific, it employs headspace gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (HS/GC‐MS) for the detection of low molecular weight volatile cyclic siloxanes (VCS), which are characteristic marker compounds for PDMS . Overall, the combined results from the primary and secondary analyses provide reliable evidence for the presence of silicone.