title: Monitoring Criminal Activity through Invisible Fluorescent "Peptide Coding" Taggants.
abstract: Complementing the demand for effective crime reduction measures are the increasing availability of commercial forensic "taggants", which may be used to physically mark an object in order to make it uniquely identifiable. This study explores the use of a novel "peptide coding" reagents to establish evidence of contact transfer during criminal activity. The reagent, containing a fluorophore dispersed within an oil-based medium, also includes a unique synthetic peptide sequence that acts as a traceable "code" to identify the origin of the taggant. The reagent is detectable through its fluorescent properties, which then allows the peptide to be recovered by swabbing and extracted for electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis via a simple liquid-liquid extraction procedure. The performance of the reagent in variable conditions that mimic the limits of a real world use are investigated.
authors.affiliation: Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division, King's College London , 150 Stamford Street, London, U.K. , SE1 9NH.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gooch
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore , 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore , 117543.
authors.forename: Hilary
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goh
authors.affiliation: Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division, King's College London , 150 Stamford Street, London, U.K. , SE1 9NH.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London , 150 Stamford Street, London, U.K. , SE1 9NH.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Abbate
authors.affiliation: Analytical and Environmental Sciences Division, King's College London , 150 Stamford Street, London, U.K. , SE1 9NH.
authors.forename: Nunzianda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Frascione
mesh_terms: D003415:Crime; D057237:Criminals; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D059625:Liquid-Liquid Extraction; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides