Chemical development of latent fingerprints: Computational design of ninhydrin analogues

The design of chemical compounds for development of latent fingerprints is explored computationally. Our main findings are: (a) We show why past attem pts to improve the widely used ninhydrin gave relatively small improvements (referring to color only). The optical transition is connected with a "tra nsition core" and therefore is influenced little by substitution on the aro matic rings. (b) We propose new analogues of ninhydrin with a significant p otential such as thiono derivatives.