The detection and analysis of ignitable liquid residues extracted from human skin using SPME/GC

A simple, fast, inexpensive, and sensitive technique for the detection and identification of flammable or combustible liquid residues on the skin of a rson suspects is presented. The use of solid phase microextraction (SPME) f or the analysis of ignitable liquid residues has been demonstrated and it i s shown in this work that this technique is effective in extracting these l iquid residues at extremely low quantities. Microliter quantities of contro lled spikes of gasoline, diesel fuel, and charcoal lighter fluid were depos ited on the hands of a volunteer and extracted after several time intervals . The SPME technique can recover very small amounts of liquid deposits on s kin up to 3.5 h after exposure, depending on the class of the ignitable liq uid residue used.