A Novel Approach to Chlorine Exposure: Raman Spectroscopy


Creative Commons License

Toprak S. (Yürütücü)

Diğer Uluslararası Fon Programları, 2017 - 2019

  • Proje Türü: Diğer Uluslararası Fon Programları
  • Başlama Tarihi: Ekim 2017
  • Bitiş Tarihi: Ekim 2019

Proje Özeti

Chlorine is a basic building block for thousands of materials and products that are essential to daily life, from pharmaceuticals to insulation materials. Common exposure pathways include: household accidents, industrial and transport accidents. It has been used as a chemical warfare agent since WW1. 

Chlorine has been explosively disseminated against coalition occupation forces in Iraq (1). There have also been continued allegations of the use of chlorine and sulphur mustard (typically associated with artillery shells and mortars) fired from IS-held positions against Kurdish positions in Iraq and Syria (2, 3). An OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) concluded in 2014 ‘with a high degree of confidence’ that chlorine had been employed as a weapon. In March 2015 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2209 condemning the use of any toxic chemical in Syria (a party to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC).

Chlorine, by nature, dissipates from environments rapidly, thus making its detection difficult. Moreover, there are no analytical methods available to unambiguously prove chlorine gas exposure in humans (4.). Hence, FFM reporting has relied heavily on the testimonies of witnesses, victims, and those providing medical care, as well as on collecting and examining relevant documentary evidence (5). 

Forensic toxicologists have a new tool for recognizing drug abuse: the analysis of keratinized matrices, such as hair and nails. Advances in modern analytical instrumentation have enabled the analysis of drugs in these unconventional biological matrices to be accomplished (6,7,8,9). Numerous studies have shown that nail clippings can provide a readily accessible matrix for the postmortem detection of drugs of abuse including opiates, methamphetamine and cocaine have been successfully detected in the nail clippings of drug abusers (10,11,12).

The technique of in situ Raman mapping is a useful tool for the forensic analysis of hazardous materials and has been used in the forensic toxicology field (13,14,15). In contrast to other methods, Raman spectroscopy produces molecule-specific spectra. Sample preparation is not necessary in most cases. This permits the nondestructive analysis of tablets, powders, and liquids in situ. This is particularly important with regard to the speed of analysis, prevention of sample contamination and preservation of evidential material (16).

In this study, we aimed to detect chlorine from chlorine exposed nail clips with Raman spectroscopy.