title: The frequency of occurrence and discriminatory power of compounds found in human scent across a population determined by SPME-GC/MS.
abstract: The composition of human scent collected from the hands is of interest to the medical community as a mechanism to diagnose disease and the forensic community as a means to investigate canine scent discriminations. An extensive survey of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) identified in the headspace of hand odor samples utilizing solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) has been conducted to determine the constituents of the human base odor profile. Sixty-three compounds were extracted from the collected odor samples. The composition included acids, alcohols, aldehydes, hydrocarbons, esters, ketones and nitrogen-containing compounds. The majority of the compounds detected (79.4%) were present in less than one third of the individuals sampled. Spearman correlation coefficient comparisons at a match/no-match threshold of 0.9 produced a distinguish ability of 99.67% across the population.
authors.affiliation: Florida International University, International Forensic Research Institute, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University Park, CP 345, Miami, FL 33199, USA.
authors.forename: Allison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: Carlos F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Ramirez
authors.forename: Adee A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Schoon
authors.forename: Kenneth G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Furton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D025924:Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants