This research aims to extract fatty acid components in hand lotions of small sample sizes. Previous research has created a protocol for the extraction of fatty acids in sample sizes of about 1 gram. This involved the hydrolysis of the lotion, freeing the fatty acids from the triglycerides, followed by the separation of the water and organic soluble compounds using dichloromethane as the extraction solvent, maintaining the fatty acids in the aqueous layer. Subsequently, the pH was adjusted to allow the extraction of the fatty acids in dichloromethane. In this research, solid phase extraction, SPE, is used in place of dichloromethane. SPE is generally used in the forensic analysis of small sample sizes of about 50-100mg and is easier to deal with than solvents such as dichloromethane. Finally, the fatty acids are derivatized and analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy, providing the identification and quantification of the fatty acids the sample.

Forensics analysis of the fatty acid components of hand lotions using GC/MS

245th National Meeting (2013)

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