A literature survey of volatiles from human breath and bodily fluids: The human volatilome and its potential use in forensic science

Ratcliffe, Norman; Honeychurch, Kevin

Abstract

The measurement of volatile compounds, or indeed semi-volatile compounds from a crime scene, or from a person could have applications in forensics science, these volatiles could arise from the body or by being adorned e.g. by use of perfumes etc. Recently we have reported 1846 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) identified from healthy humans. In total over 900 additional VOCs have been reported since a 2014 review and the VOCs from semen have been added. The numbers of VOCs found in breath and the other bodily fluids are: blood 379, breath 1488, faeces 443, milk 290, saliva 549, semen 196, skin 623 and urine 444. The compounds have been included in a single table with the source reference(s) for each VOC. VOCs have also been grouped into tables according to their chemical class or functionality to permit easy comparison. Some clear differences are observed, for instance, a lack of esters in urine with a high number in faeces and breath. However, the lack of compounds from matrices such a semen and milk compared to breath for example could be due to the techniques used or reflect the intensity of effort e.g. there are few publications on VOCs from milk and semen compared to a large number for breath. The large number of volatiles reported from skin is partly due to the methodologies used. It is the authors' intention that this work will be a useful database of VOCs listed in the literature for potential forensic science application. The volatile profile of humans could change in states of disease or for dietary reasons and drinking alcoholic beverages is a case in point. This will be discussed in the Prague forensic science meeting.

Citation

Ratcliffe, N., & Honeychurch, K. (2022). A literature survey of volatiles from human breath and bodily fluids: The human volatilome and its potential use in forensic science. In S. Urban, V. Skerikova, P. Pouzarova, & T. Uhlikova (Eds.), Book of abstracts of the First International workshop on Chemical Analysis of Human Scent for Forensic Purposes (29)

• Conference Name: Forensic Olfactronic 2022: The First International workshop on chemical analysis of human scent for forensic purposes
• Conference Location: University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague UCT Prague Press
• Start Date: Sep 22, 2022
• End Date: Sep 22, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Sep 22, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 23, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 23, 2022
• Deposit Date: Feb 17, 2023
• Pages: 29
• Book Title: Book of abstracts of the First International workshop on Chemical Analysis of Human Scent for Forensic Purposes
• ISBN: 978-80-7592-140-6
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10463875
• Related Public URLs: https://uanlch.vscht.cz/#