FLUORESCENCE DETECTION OF ETHYL CENTRALITE IN GUNSHOT RESIDUES

A fluorescence method has been developed to detect ethyl centralite in gunshot residues. Residues were recovered from shooters' hands with c otton wool swabs. The swabs were extracted by a syringe elution proced ure and the extracts cleaned by TLC. The cleaned samples were hydrolyz ed in phosphoric acid at 178 degrees C for 20 min to yield N-ethylanil ine. Any N-ethylaniline was dansylated directly on a TLC plate, which was then developed two-dimensionally. The fluorescent dansyl-N-ethylan iline spot was scraped off and extracted for fluorometric determinatio n. The detection limits for ethyl centralite standards and spiked hand samples are 1 ng and 5 ng respectively. Three out of six test firings of a .38 revolver gave extracts that were found to contain ethyl cent ralite. One of these was swabbed 180 min after firing three rounds of ammunition.