Vibrational Spectroscopy Trends in Forensic Chemistry

Forensic chemists need to identify evidence quickly, accurately and without destroying it, often at the crime scene, where contamination and the time since deposition complicate the analysis. Vibrational spectroscopy, mainly infrared (IR), near-infrared (NIR), and Raman spectroscopy, meets this need: it is non-destructive, requires minimal sample preparation and gives a chemical fingerprint of materials as varied as body fluids, fingermarks, gunshot residue, illicit substances, paints, fibers and soil.Traditional screening tests can consume evidence or give false positives and negatives, and laboratory methods can delay investigations. Recent advances are changing this. Handheld IR and Raman spectrometers bring the analysis to the scene, and chemometrics and machine learning help interpret complex spectra and build models that account for time since deposition, environmental conditions and sample variability. To reach casework, these methods also need validation, reference databases and agreed standards.This Research Topic gathers advances in vibrational spectroscopy for forensic chemistry, from method development to casework. We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:• Portable and field-deployable IR and Raman devices• Body fluids (human and animal) and fingermarks• Gunshot residue and illicit substances• Soil, paint, fibers, documents and other trace evidence• Wildlife and animal forensics• Determination of time since deposition and the effect of environmental conditions• Chemometrics, machine learning and spectral databases• Method validation and standardization for casework Topic editors: Entesar S. Al-Hetlani, Mohamed O. Amin, Vishal Sharma Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86974/vibrational-spectroscopy-trends-in-forensic-chemistry