Rapid and nondestructive analysis of lipstick on different substrates using ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy and chemometrics

Lipstick can be an important piece of evidence in crimes like murders, rapes, and suicides. Due to its prevalence, it can be an important corroborative evidence in crime reconstruction. The analysis of such evidence can provide an evidentiary link between the suspect, the victim, object, or the crim...

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Published in:Journal of forensic sciences 2023-05, Vol.68 (3), p.1001-1008
Main Authors: Ka Khei, Lim, Verma, Rajesh, Tan, Eva Lee Yin, Low, Kah Hin, Ismail, Dzulkiflee, Mohamad Asri, Muhammad Naeim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins
ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy
Chemometrics
Cotton
Crime
Discriminant Analysis
Forensic Medicine
Fourier transforms
Gloves
Humans
Infrared spectroscopy
Least-Squares Analysis
Lipstick
Nondestructive testing
partial least square‐discriminant analysis
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared - methods
Spectrum analysis
Substrates
Suicide
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Summary:Lipstick can be an important piece of evidence in crimes like murders, rapes, and suicides. Due to its prevalence, it can be an important corroborative evidence in crime reconstruction. The analysis of such evidence can provide an evidentiary link between the suspect, the victim, object, or the crime scene. We report the use of nondestructive ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for the classification of 10 brands of lipsticks with nine samples each. Chemometric method of partial least square‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) has been employed to interpret the data and classify the samples into their respective classes. The PLS‐DA model provides an AUC figure above 0.99 in all brands except one; for which it is slightly less at 0.94. We have also tested the traces of these lipstick samples on different substrates treating them as unknowns in the already trained PLS‐DA model. 100% of the samples on nine substrates viz. a cotton, nylon, plastic, dry tissue, denim (blue jeans), wet tissue, nitrile gloves, white paper, and polyester were correctly attributed to their source brand. In conclusion, the results suggest that ATR‐FTIR combined with the chemometrics is a rapid, nondestructive, and accurate method for the discrimination and source attribution of lipstick. This study has potential for use in actual forensic casework conditions.
ISSN:0022-1198
1556-4029
DOI:10.1111/1556-4029.15223