NCJ Number
96287
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 12 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1984) Pages: 385-389
Date Published
1984
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Central Forensic Science Laboratory in New Delhi, India, identified two samples of art papers by detecting fluorescent brighteners in them, using thin layer chromatography, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and fluorescence spectrophotometry.
Abstract
Both of the samples of art papers showed intense blue-white fluorescence under ultraviolet light, indicating that these papers contained fluorescent brighteners. It was then decided to analyze and identify the fluorescent brighteners from both samples using the techniques of thin layer chromatography, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and fluorescence spectrophotometry. Fluorescent brighteners extracted from the art paper samples showed identical absorption peaks maxima at 270 nm and 356 nm. Both these samples of fluorescent brighteners from the papers showed identical fluorescence emission spectra with peaks maxima at 432 nm when excited at 367 nm using Belzer filter R-UV 367 in front of the Xenon lamp. The fluorescent brighteners from both the art papers separated at identical Rf values (0.14) by thin layer chromatography. The results of these three techniques conclusively proved the identical nature of fluorescent brighteners in both the art papers. These results were also corroborated by matching other physical characteristics between the samples, such as color, thickness, weight, opacity, and UV fluorescence. The analysis provided strong evidence that the two art papers came from a similar source. The fluorescent brighteners present in these papers did not match with any of the fluorescent brighteners generally used in Indian papers, suggesting that the art papers may have been of foreign origin. Graphic data, photographs, and 27 references are provided.