Capabilities and drawbacks of mass spectrometry in the forensic field: analysis of real cases dealing with toxicology and explosives
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Giada Furlan
,
Emanuela Canò
Abstract
Ever since its invention, mass spectrometry has been seen as a remedy for all of the riddle that an analytical chemist was ever called to answer. Indeed, a good mass expert, provided with a good instrument and an updated library, would be able to answer to the question “what is it?” or “what does it have inside?”. In most of the cases, nevertheless, there is sometimes the need of using other type of techniques in order to avoid misunderstandings and wrong interpretations of the results. Therefore, the aim of this work is to compare real forensic cases where mass spectrometry played a fundamental role to obtain tangible and trustable answers, to other ones where this technique proved to be totally misleading. Those that will be shown, are real, concrete cases – slightly modified in order to make them unrecognisable.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
References
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© 2024 IUPAC & De Gruyter
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- In this issue
- IUPAC Technical Reports
- Terms of Latin origin relating to sample characterization (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Glossary of terms used in biochar research (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Properties and units in the clinical laboratory sciences. Part XXVIII. NPU codes for characterizing subpopulations of the hematopoietic lineage, described from their clusters of differentiation molecules (IUPAC Technical Report)
- Special Topic: Mass spectrometry congress in Italy – MASSA 2023l; Guest Editor: Giuliana Bianco
- Milk protein polymorphisms of Aosta Valley cattle breeds
- Capabilities and drawbacks of mass spectrometry in the forensic field: analysis of real cases dealing with toxicology and explosives
- Mapping the distribution of bioactive compounds and aroma/flavour precursors in green coffee beans with an integrated mass spectrometry-based approach
- Fire fighters and mass spectrometry: from the world of combustion to the molecular ion
- Special Topic: IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Awards 2023; Guest Editor: Mary J. Garson
- Method development for multielement determination of halogens and sulfur in teas
- Regular Review Article
- A brief history of risk assessment for agrochemicals
- Regular Research Articles
- Capture of volatile iodine by aromatic amines solutions
- Facile and green hydrothermal synthesis of MgAl/NiAl/ZnAl layered double hydroxide nanosheets: a physiochemical comparison
- Production of oil palm mesocarp fiber-based hydrogel using selected cross-linking acids
