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. 2023 May 30;8(23):20675-20683.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c01241. eCollection 2023 Jun 13.

Role of Race/Ethnicity, Sex, and Age in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy- and Infrared Spectroscopy-Based Analysis of Artificial Colorants on Hair

Aidan P Holman  1   2 , Dmitry Kurouski  2   3   4
Affiliations

Role of Race/Ethnicity, Sex, and Age in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy- and Infrared Spectroscopy-Based Analysis of Artificial Colorants on Hair

Aidan P Holman et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

Forensic microscopy has been used in forensic hair analysis to determine the racial origin of hair samples. However, this technique is subjective and often inconclusive. Although, to a large extent, this problem can be solved with the use of DNA analysis, which is capable of identifying the genetic code, biological sex, and racial origin from a strand of hair, this PCR-based analysis of hair is time- and labor-consuming. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are emerging analytical techniques that can be used to advance forensic analysis of hair by enabling confirmatory identification of hair colorants. Having said that, it remains unclear whether the race/ethnicity, sex, and age of individuals should be considered upon IR spectroscopy- and SERS-based analysis of hair. Our results showed that both techniques enabled robust and reliable analyses of hair of different races/ethnicities, sexes, and age groups colored using four different permanent and semipermanent colorants. We also found that SERS could be used to identify the race/ethnicity, sex, and age of the individuals via spectroscopic analysis of colored hair, whereas IR spectroscopy was capable of accurately revealing this important anthropological information only from uncolored hair. These results outlined some advantages and limitations of both vibrational techniques in the forensic examination of hair samples.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean (solid black line) and standard deviations (color-filled areas) of averaged spectra from SERS (left) and FT-IR spectroscopy (right) of each colorant.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average FT-IR spectra (solid black line) with corresponding standard deviations (color-filled areas) acquired form dyed (left) and undyed (right) hair of individuals of different races/ethnicities.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average FT-IR spectra (solid black line) with corresponding standard deviations (color-filled areas) acquired form dyed (left) and undyed (right) hair of both male and female individuals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Average FT-IR spectra (solid black line) with corresponding standard deviations (color-filled areas) acquired form dyed (left) and undyed (right) hair of individuals belonging to different age groups.
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