Species identification of blood and bloodstains by high-performance liquid chromatography

A reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for species identification of blood and bloodstains is described. The method employs a 300 A pore SynChropak RP-4 column and ternary solvents (acetonitrile-trifluoroacetic acid-water) and can not only identify a species by its characteristic chromatogram, but also simultaneously demonstrates that it is of blood origin by the existence of the heme peak. Deformations in chromatographic profiles obtained with older bloodstains were observed, but the retention times of heme and the major peaks showed only minor changes. The species could be identified from bloodstains at least 3 months old and the present method has the advantage of simplicity, speed and sensitivity in the practice of forensic science.