Using TLC and GC-MS to Determine Whether Inks Came from the Same Manufacturing Batch
By: Valery N Aginsky
Abstract
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), being a well proven analytical method of determining the qualitative composition of multi-component systems, is effective for the analysis of inks, most of which are complex mixtures of chemical compounds. A combination of thin-layer chromatography (TLC), which analyzes ink colored components, and GC-MS, which analyzes ink noncolored components, demonstrates high discriminating power with regard to writing inks that can be distinguished neither by nondestructive techniques nor by TLC. Case examples are considered in which coupling of TLC and GC-MS allowed one to discriminate between ink indistinguishable by TLC and to determine that the inks on questioned documents came from the same manufacturing batch.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.69525/jasqde.128 | Journal eISSN: 1524-7287
Language: English
Page range: 19 - 27
Published on: Jun 1, 2006
Published by: American Society of Questioned Document Examiners
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
© 2006 Valery N Aginsky, published by American Society of Questioned Document Examiners
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.