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

authored by: 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.
Organisation(s): Institute of Electrical Engineering and Measurement Technology
External Organisation(s): University of Innsbruck
ETH Zurich
Innsbruck Medical University
University of Cyprus
University of Birmingham
Type: Article
Journal: Journal of Chromatography B: Analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences
Volume: 1076
Pages: 29-34
No. of pages: 6
ISSN: 1570-0232
Publication date: 15.02.2018
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Clinical Biochemistry, Cell Biology
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Electronic version(s): http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/48023862/Mochalski_et_al_Monitoring_of_selected_skin_Journal_of_Chromatography_2.pdf (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2018.01.013 (Access: Closed)