Monitoring of selected skin- and breath-borne volatile organic compounds emitted from the human body using gas chromatography ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS)

verfasst von

Paweł Mochalski, Helmut Wiesenhofer, Maria Allers, Stefan Zimmermann, Andreas T. Güntner, Nicolay J. Pineau, Wolfgang Lederer, Agapios Agapiou, Christopher A. Mayhew, Veronika Ruzsanyi

Abstract

Human smuggling and associated cross-border crimes have evolved as a major challenge for the European Union in recent years. Of particular concern is the increasing trend of smuggling migrants hidden inside shipping containers or trucks. Therefore, there is a growing demand for portable security devices for the non-intrusive and rapid monitoring of containers to detect people hiding inside. In this context, chemical analysis of volatiles organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the human body is proposed as a locating tool. In the present study, an in-house made ion mobility spectrometer coupled with gas chromatography (GC-IMS) was used to monitor the volatile moieties released from the human body under conditions that mimic entrapment. A total of 17 omnipresent volatile compounds were identified and quantified from 35 ion mobility peaks corresponding to human presence. These are 7 aldehydes (acrolein, 2-methylpropanal, 3-methylbutanal, 2-ethacrolein, n-hexanal, n-heptanal, benzaldehyde), 3 ketones (acetone, 2-pentanone, 4-methyl-2-pentanone), 5 esters (ethyl formate, ethyl propionate, vinyl butyrate, butyl acetate, ethyl isovalerate), one alcohol (2-methyl-1-propanol) and one organic acid (acetic acid). The limits of detection (0.05–7.2 ppb) and relative standard deviations (0.6–11%) should be sufficient for detecting these markers of human presence in field conditions. This study shows that GC-IMS can be used as a portable field detector of hidden or entrapped people.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik und Messtechnik

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Innsbruck
ETH Zürich
Innsbruck Medical University
University of Cyprus
University of Birmingham

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Journal of Chromatography B: Analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences

Band

1076

Seiten

29-34

Anzahl der Seiten

6

ISSN

1570-0232

Publikationsdatum

15.02.2018

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Analytische Chemie, Biochemie, Klinische Biochemie, Zellbiologie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 16 – Frieden, Gerechtigkeit und starke Institutionen

Elektronische Version(en)

http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/48023862/Mochalski_et_al_Monitoring_of_selected_skin_Journal_of_Chromatography_2.pdf (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2018.01.013 (Zugang: Geschlossen)