Studies on the degradation of blue gel pen dyes by ion-pairing high performance liquid chromatography and electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Ion-pairing high performance liquid chromatography (IP-HPLC) was utilized to monitor the composition changes of blue gel pen ink entries on paper stored in different light conditions and natural environment. The chromatographic conditions were optimized by comparing the separation efficiencies of the blue gel pen inks using a series of ion-pairing reagents, including ammonium carbonate, ammonium acetate, triethylamine acetate, tributylamine acetate, tetrabutylammonium bromide and dihexylammonium acetate. It has been found that tributylamine acetate was a suitable ion-pairing reagent for separation of the inks on the common C18 column. The analysis results of the ink entries on paper in different aging conditions showed that the tendency of composition change in natural aging condition was similar with those in fluorescent light and UV light conditions, respectively. One main component dye of the blue gel pen ink, Acid Blue 9, and its degradation products were identified by ion-pairing high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The results showed that the main degradation products originated from the Acid Blue 9. It gave a reasonable explanation for the changing rules of the relative content of the dyes in the blue gel pen ink. The results obtained can provide scientific evidences for dating of the blue gel pen ink entries on documents.     

Differentiation and dating of red ink entries of seals on documents by HPLC and GC/MS

A novel approach for differentiation and dating of red ink entries of seals on documents was developed based on ion‐pairing HPLC (IP‐HPLC) and GC/MS. Sixty‐nine red ink pastes of seals were collected and the chromatographic conditions for separation of the dye components by IP‐HPLC and the volatile additives by GC/MS in the ink entries were optimized. According to the dye components and additives, the ink entries were classified by HPLC with a multi‐wavelength UV detector. The volatile components of the inks were identified by GC/MS and the classification of the ink entries was also investigated based on these volatile additives. The results showed that most of the ink entries of the seals can be differentiated by combining HPLC with a multi‐wavelength detector and GC/MS methods. The degradation of the standard dye mixtures and the compositional changes of the ink entries of seals were investigated in light or natural aging conditions. The results indicated that the dye components decomposed in light or natural storage conditions, while the rates of the degradation depended on the structures of the dye components, the aging conditions, even the additives of the ink pastes. The results also showed that there existed good relationships between the compositional changes of the ink entries and the aging time, which can provide scientific evidences and valuable clues for dating of the ink entries.     

Characterizing different types of black fountain pen ink using the chemical approach

Fountain pen ink contains dyes, pigments, or nanoparticles as colorants; water and ethylene glycol or an organic solvent as the vehicle. The dyes in fountain pen ink are usually negatively charged acid dyes. In this study, various types of black fountain pen ink (5 dye-based and 5 nanoparticle-based) were investigated by ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectroscopy, Ion Pair High Performance Liquid Chromatography Diode-Array Detector (IP-HPLC-DAD), Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), and Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-Q/TOF-MS) analysis. UV–Vis spectroscopy of fountain pen ink samples showed different profiles despite their similar color. MALDI-TOF-MS analyses successfully differentiated 10 of the inks. Nanoparticle-based ink, which is usually darker than dye-based ink, showed the same UV absorption at 240 nm. The use of LC-Q/TOF-MS, however, allowed the 5 dye-based fountain pen ink samples to be differentiated from one another. On the basis of the combined results of all analytical methods mentioned above, the discriminating power values were 0.71–1.00. Among them, MALDI-TOF-MS could successfully distinguish fountain pen ink samples with similar black colors and provide an easy analytical approach for the differentiation and identification of various types of fountain pens.     

高效液相色谱法鉴别黑色签字笔墨水字迹形成时间的研究

签字笔携带方便、书写流畅,现已成为常用的书写工具之一。在许多刑事及民事案件中,尤其在呈明显上升趋势的各类贪污、受贿案件中,经常会遇到由签字笔墨水形成的契约、合同、收据、借条等可疑文件中关于签字笔墨水字迹色痕的鉴定。对于字迹色痕形成时间的鉴定工作一直是困扰法庭     

裂解气相色谱法分析蓝色中性笔字迹的书写墨水种类及墨迹随书写时间的变化规律

中性笔是当前比较流行的一种书写工具,其墨水多采用颜料作为色料成分,很难用水和有机溶剂进行提取,故无法利用分析圆珠笔油墨和水性笔墨水所采用的气相色谱或高效液相色谱等方法进行检验。目前在法庭科学领域内还没有一种有效的方法用于分析中性笔字迹的书写墨水。采用裂解气相色谱法分析了蓝色中性笔字迹的书写墨水,根据色谱峰的个数和保留时间将收集的65个样品分成3类,其中大部分样品属于具有铜酞菁颜料主要色谱峰的第二大类。色谱峰的保留时间和峰面积比值的分析结果表明所建立的分析方法重现性好且稳定。在此基础上,对蓝色中性笔墨迹随书写时间的变化规律进行了初步研究,得出了老化曲线。     

Forensic Identification of Dyes in Ballpoint Pen Inks Using LC–ESI–MS

The aim of this work was to develop a new technique using flow injection analysis combined with LC–ESI–MS which allows identification of dyes in ballpoint pen inks. A sample preparation procedure for the extraction of dyes from ballpoint pen strokes has been developed. The characteristic group of ions for each sample of 21 studied ballpoint pen inks corresponding to the present dyes has been determined using flow injection method. LC separation conditions for identified dyes have been optimized on reversed-phase sorbent based on silica gel. The best composition of the mobile phase for the dyes mixture LC separation was 0.1% aqueous formic acid and acetonitrile. Detection of dyes was carried out using mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization in positive and negative modes after reversed-phase liquid chromatography separation. Dye composition of ink was additionally confirmed comparing the data obtained from the literature. Flow injection analysis allows obtaining intensive ions of unknown strokes. It is difficult to get this information using only chromatographic methods, because dyes peak intensity can be low and noise of basic line high. Flow injection method allows distinguishing the analyzed 21 ballpoint pens by determining a characteristic set of dyes. The developed flow injection technique is very simple and quick. As a result, a novel approach for the identification of dyes in the ballpoint pen inks by flow injection analysis with LC–ESI–MS and UV detection without using standard dye samples has been established. It can be an effective alternative to the existing LC–DAD–MS and IR spectroscopy methods.     

Nondestructive classification and identification of ballpoint pen inks by Raman spectroscopy for forensic document examinations

As a non-destructive analytical method, Raman spectroscopy often provides insufficient information to identify or differentiate the ink used for the preparation of a questioned document. In this study, blue and black ballpoint pen inks deposited on paper substrate were examined in situ by conventional Raman spectroscopy. Inks were successfully classified based on the total number of prominent bands in Raman spectra. It was found that more than 90% of the samples of the same type and color could be differentiated visually using only Raman spectra, i.e. 94 and 95% for blue and black inks, respectively. As a result of this study, a flow chart has been constructed for blue and black ballpoint pen inks allowing their systematic identification. Raman spectroscopy proved to be a fast and precise technique for forensic ink analysis.     

显微共聚焦拉曼光谱结合群分析的黑色直液笔墨迹鉴别研究

黑色直液笔是一种新型书写工具,目前对该种笔墨迹的相关研究较少。为给文件检验工作中墨迹的分析提供新的参考依据,本实验使用显微共聚焦拉曼光谱技术,采集了30支不同品牌、型号的黑色直液笔墨迹光谱数据,进行Savitzky-Golay卷积平滑处理后,依据光谱图的拉曼位移及拉曼谱峰差异对墨迹进行初步分析。设置聚类方法为组间联接,区间距离测量方式为平方欧式距离,对采集的光谱数据进行群分析,将30支黑色直液笔墨迹样本分成了3类,并与品牌建立了相关联系;同时通过主成分分析验证了群分析的可靠性和准确性。研究表明,显微共聚焦拉曼光谱技术结合群分析方法可实现对黑色直液笔墨迹的无损分析及有效鉴别,该方法操作简便、结果准确,适用于法庭科学文件检验。     

Forensic classification of ballpoint pen inks using high performance liquid chromatography and infrared spectroscopy with principal components analysis and linear discriminant analysis

Several varieties of blue ballpoint pen inks were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The chromatographic data extracted at four wavelengths (254, 279, 370 and 400 nm) was analyzed individually and at a combination of these wavelengths by the soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) technique using principal components analysis (PCA) to estimate the separation between the pen samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) measured the probability with which an observation could be assigned to a pen class. The best resolution was obtained by HPLC using data from all four wavelengths together, differentiating 96.4% pen pairs successfully using PCA and 97.9% pen samples by LDA. PCA separated 60.7% of the pen pairs and LDA provided a correct classification of 62.5% of the pens analyzed by IR. The results of this study indicate that HPLC coupled with chemometrics provided a better discrimination of ballpoint pen inks compared to IR. The need to develop a suitable IR method for analysing blue ballpoint pen inks has been emphasized and it is hoped that the development of such a method would indeed provide a valuable tool for the non-destructive analysis of blue ballpoint pen ink samples for forensic purposes.     

Separation of crystal violet dyes and its application to pen ink analysis using CZE and MEKC methods

A crystal violet (CV) standard was irradiated under a Hg-Cd lamp for different exposure times to obtain various N-demethylation products. CZE effectively separated the photodegradation products based on molecular weight differences. In contrast, micellar EKC (MEKC), using SDS as the surfactant, was ineffective because the binding constants of the demethylation products and SDS were too close for separation. Nevertheless, MEKC analysis of ink has applications in forensic science because MEKC separated neutral components in the inks. Thus, MEKC can be used to obtain an ink "fingerprint" since each ink is unique depending on the location and time it was made. In contrast, CZE is useful for dating inks because CV is the primary ink dye and it photodegrades slowly.     

Micro-spectrochemical analysis of document paper and gel inks by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

Current methods used in document examinations are not suitable to associate or discriminate between sources of paper and gel inks with a high degree of certainty. Nearly non-destructive, laser-based methods using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) were used to improve the forensic comparisons of gel inks, ballpoint inks and document papers based on similarities in elemental composition. Some of the advantages of these laser-based methods include minimum sample consumption/destruction, high sensitivity, high selectivity and excellent discrimination between samples from different origins. Figures of merit are reported including limits of detection, precision, homogeneity at a micro-scale and linear dynamic range. The variation of the elemental composition in paper was studied within a single sheet, between pages from the same ream, between papers produced by the same plant at different time intervals and between seventeen paper sources produced by ten different plants. The results show that elemental analysis of paper by LIBS and LA-ICP-MS provides excellent discrimination (> 98%) between different sources. Batches manufactured at weekly and monthly intervals in the same mill were also differentiated. The ink of more than 200 black pens was analyzed to determine the variation of the chemical composition of the ink within a single pen, between pens from the same package and between brands of gel inks and ballpoint inks. Homogeneity studies show smaller variation of elemental compositions within a single source than between different sources (i.e. brands and types). It was possible to discriminate between pen markings from different brands and between pen markings from the same brand but different model. Discrimination of ~ 96–99% was achieved for sets that otherwise would remain inseparable by conventional methods. The results show that elemental analysis, using either LA-ICP-MS or LIBS, provides an effective, practical and robust technique for the discrimination of document paper and gel inks with minimum mass removal (9–15 μg) and minimum damage to the document's substrate.     

Determining the relative age of blue ballpoint ink by gas chromatography

A method for identifying the writing age of blue ballpoint pen ink has been established due to the imperative demand in forensic laboratories. The content of the volatile components in blue ballpoint pen ink were determined by gas chromatography (GC). The absorbance of dye in blue ballpoint pen ink was measured by UV-Vis spectrometry A writing age curve of the ink was established using the ratio of the content of the volatile components to the dye, based on the identification of 74 kinds of blue ballpoint pen ink of domestic and international origins. The change of benzene alcohol or phenoxetol with the writing age was also tested. Different kinds of blue ballpoint pen ink were detected and the repeatability of the experiment was investigated. The results indicate that the method is reliable, sensitive, systematic and is especially suitable for practical use. __________ Translated from Chinese Journal of Chromatography, 2005 (3)(in Chinese)     

高效毛细管电泳法分析蓝色签字笔字迹色痕种类及相对形成时间

选用毛细管区带电泳分离模式,对13种市售蓝色签字笔样品字迹色痕进行了分析。当电压为15 kV、柱温为25 ℃时,以0.03 mol/L 四硼酸钠水溶液(外加10%(体积分数)的甲醇)为缓冲液,所有样品都可以得到良好的区分;依据紫外区检测结果,样品可以分为三大类、五小类;依据可见区检测结果,样品可以分为四类;两种分析结果相结合有助于增大不同样品之间的区分度;选择3种样品进行暗处保存老化制样,根据字迹中色料成分相对含量的变化,对字迹的相对形成时间进行了初步探讨。研究还发现纸张类型对于上述研究结果无影响。     

Applicability of surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering for the direct discrimination of ballpoint pen inks

In situ surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS) with excitation at 685 nm is suitable for the direct discrimination of blue and black ballpoint pen inks on paper. For black inks, shorter excitation wavelengths can also be used. For blue inks, SERRS at 514.5 and 457.9 nm does not provide adequate discriminative power. At these excitation wavelengths, the SERRS signals of the Methyl Violet derivatives present in inks easily dominate the overall spectrum because of resonance enhancement and preferential interaction with silver sol particles. At 685 nm, this problem is not encountered as the Methyl Violet derivatives do not show resonance enhancement, while other components may still exhibit resonance. Thirteen blue and thirteen black ink lines were examined. For the blue and black inks, on the basis of the 685 nm SERR spectra, eight and six groups of spectra, respectively, could be distinguished. This discrimination largely agrees with information from thin layer chromatography (TLC) experiments, although some differences in group compositions are found. The in situ SERR spectra show good repeatability with regard to the Raman frequencies, band shapes and relative intensities of the spectral bands. However, absolute intensities cannot be used for discrimination purposes.     

薄层色谱法分析圆珠笔色痕形成时间

 利用薄层色谱法对 70种市售的蓝色圆珠笔油墨的染料成分进行了研究。通过与染料标样的薄层色谱数据比较 ,发现国内圆珠笔厂生产的圆珠笔所用的油墨中的染料主要包括碱性紫、碱性蓝及铜酞菁 ,只是不同厂家的油墨中几种染料的配比不同。根据薄层扫描仪对油墨各斑点的扫描结果 ,确定了圆珠笔油墨成分中碱性紫和铜酞菁染料的峰高比值随着书写时间变化的关系 ,从而为法庭科学工作中鉴定圆珠笔字迹的色痕形成时间提供了可靠的依据。     

DATINK pilot study: An effective methodology for ballpoint pen ink dating in questioned documents

Establishing the approximate age of an ink entry from a questioned document is often a complicated task and a controversial issue in forensic sciences. Among the existing approaches, the analysis of solvents in ballpoint inks may be a useful parameter for determining the age of ink on paper. In recent years, several ink dating methods have been proposed. These methods have been based on the analysis of common ink solvents using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) as the analytical platform. Despite these recent methods, several questions remain. The aim of this work was to develop an ink dating methodology (DATINK) for documents written by ballpoint pens based on the disappearance of volatile solvents from the ink entry. Multiple solid-phase microextraction (MHS-SPME) coupled to GC/MS was used to measure the solvents from ink entries made with four BIC^® ballpoint pens. The β parameter, the remaining fraction of the analyte in the system after one equilibration, corresponding to the successive extractions was considered for modelling a mathematical equation for later ink age dating. Preliminary tests of DATINK method showed that it was possible to detect the presence of ink solvents on documents up to the studied five years. The analyses of different real samples of known age were analyzed in terms of β values, which provided a mean relative error of 21%. The proposed use of β parameter for estimating the absolute age of ballpoint ink entries has shown promising results with a standard deviation of β ranging from 0.002 to 0.004.     

气相色谱法确定蓝色圆珠笔油墨字迹的形成时间

选择适当的内标物,利用气相色谱法测定蓝色圆珠笔油墨中展色剂苯甲醇和苯氧基乙醇这两种组分的含量(以峰面积计),以展色剂的峰面积、内标物的峰面积与紫外-可见光谱测得的参比物墨水中的染料的吸光度值这三者之比为纵坐标,以字迹形成时间为横坐标,确定了字迹形成曲线,从而建立了确定字迹形成时间的方法。选择了不同种类的蓝色圆珠笔油墨进行检测,获得了良好的实验效果,为圆珠笔油墨字迹形成时间的推断建立了一种可靠而又系统的方法。该方法适用于实际办案。     

Studies into the Early Degradation Stages of Cellulose by Different Iron Gall Ink Components

Selective fluorescence labelling of oxidized cellulose functionalities followed by GPC-MALLS was used to get a deeper insight into ink-induced degradation processes. As the method is very sensitive towards oxidation and molecular weight changes, slight variations at the very beginning of aging processes, e.g. during ink corrosion of cellulose, can be studied. Five different ink modifications were applied on model papers and underwent mild accelerated aging at 55 °C and cycling humidity (7 days) followed by a short period of static humid aging at 80 °C (2 days). Pure ink constituents like tannic acid or iron sulphate do not result in the same degree of oxidation or chain scission as complete inks. Balanced ink degrades paper more than single compounds, but less than unbalanced inks. Interestingly, some degradation occurs already during or shortly after the application process of unbalanced inks on paper. It could be demonstrated that this oxidation proceeded in a rather high Mw area, while the subsequent aging steps affected predominantly regions of shorter cellulose chains.     

Analysis of Dye Components in Red Ballpoint Pen Inks by Nonaqueous Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography with LIF Detection

An effective and economical nonaqueous micellar electrokinetic chromatography (NAMEKC) method was developed for the analysis of dye components with similar structure in red ballpoint pen inks. The new NAMEKC method using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelle as pseudo-stationary phase in formamide/H₂O medium provided higher resolution and better selectivity than other conventional capillary electrophoresis methods. In this study, the experimental parameters including solvent medium, acid concentration, SDS concentration, separation voltage and temperature, were optimized. The optimized conditions were formamide/H₂O (90/10, v/v) with SDS at concentration of 100 mmol and 3.5 % acetic acid (v/v). The separation voltage and temperature were of 20 kV and 25 °C, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, a good separation of three red color dyes with similar structure was achieved. This method was successfully used to analyze several red ballpoint pen inks from different manufacturers with satisfactory result. Therefore, the proposed method could be useful for the discrimination of red ballpoint pen inks in questioned documents examination.     

NACE Discrimination of Black Ballpoint Pen Inks

A non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) method was developed for analyzing seven basic dyes contained in black ballpoint pen inks. Baseline separation of the studied compounds was achieved on a 57 cm × 75 μm capillary by using a non-aqueous solution composed of 1.0% acetic acid and 60 mM ammonium acetate in methanol medium. Based on the pattern of NACE electropherograms, 120 black ballpoint pens from different manufacturers were divided into six groups in terms of dye categories. Moreover, the black ballpoint pens from the same group may be further distinguished by cluster analysis based on the content of different dyes and some unknown peaks. Our results indicated that the developed NACE method is a credible warrant for investigation of the fraudulent documents.