Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Analysis of Acrylic Nails as a Forensic Evidence
Disciplines
Analytical Chemistry
Abstract (300 words maximum)
There have been documented cases where nails and nail polish have been used as forensic evidence. Forensic scientists can detect drugs, chemicals, and biological substances that accumulate in nails or get DNA from a suspect that may have been transferred onto the nail polish a couple of days prior. However, there have not been many documented cases where acrylic nails have been used. The purpose of this research is to determine how many fake or false nails with different colors degrade after being buried in the ground for a period. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) based IR spectroscopy was used to monitor the degradation of the fake nails. Before burying the acrylic nails, most of them showed strong and sharp peaks at around 1730 cm-1 for C=O stretching as well as another strong peak at 1070 cm-1 for C-O stretching. It is reasonable for both of these to be present since ethyl methacrylate is a common monomer in acrylic products. After burying the acrylic nails for two weeks, they were tested again and while the peaks at 1730 cm-1 and 1070 cm-1 were still there they were not as strong and sharp as they were noticed previously. There were also new broad peaks at around 2940 cm-1 and 3690 cm-1 both for OH stretching, which shows that there was some degrading over time.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Mohammad A. Halim
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic Analysis of Acrylic Nails as a Forensic Evidence
There have been documented cases where nails and nail polish have been used as forensic evidence. Forensic scientists can detect drugs, chemicals, and biological substances that accumulate in nails or get DNA from a suspect that may have been transferred onto the nail polish a couple of days prior. However, there have not been many documented cases where acrylic nails have been used. The purpose of this research is to determine how many fake or false nails with different colors degrade after being buried in the ground for a period. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) based IR spectroscopy was used to monitor the degradation of the fake nails. Before burying the acrylic nails, most of them showed strong and sharp peaks at around 1730 cm-1 for C=O stretching as well as another strong peak at 1070 cm-1 for C-O stretching. It is reasonable for both of these to be present since ethyl methacrylate is a common monomer in acrylic products. After burying the acrylic nails for two weeks, they were tested again and while the peaks at 1730 cm-1 and 1070 cm-1 were still there they were not as strong and sharp as they were noticed previously. There were also new broad peaks at around 2940 cm-1 and 3690 cm-1 both for OH stretching, which shows that there was some degrading over time.