Hair has been accepted as a viable medium for absorbing ingested drugs, poisons, etc. and is widely used for toxicological purposes in forensics. In order to further investigate the adsorptive properties of hair, canine fur samples were analyzed following exposure to nitrotoluenes. This technique for fur sample analysis minimized sample prep and eliminated the use of solvents. Canine fur samples were exposed to trinitrotoluene (TNT) degradation products 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) and 2-amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene (Amino-DNT) for variable amounts of time (ranging from 1 to 60 days) and analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) coupled with a PSI probe (Prepless Sample Introduction Probe) to determine their absorptive ability. Samples were cut and loaded directly into the instrument (via PSI probe) after exposure time was complete. Both DNT and Amino-DNT were detected using this technique after an exposure period of 24 and 48 hours, respectively. A significant trend was observed relating exposure time and nitrotoluene peak intensity for samples exposed to DNT. Several fatty acids were detected in varying intensities across samples. The impact of fatty acid content on absorptive properties was also investigated. Data obtained in this study was consistent with previous research involving hair sample analysis and canine fur was found to be a viable medium for accumulating and retaining explosives residues upon exposure.

Detection of nitrotoluenes in canine fur samples using GCMS/PSI-probe

255th National Meeting (2018)

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