A validation study of the 1,2-indandione reagent for operational use in the UK: Part 1 - Formulation optimization

This paper contains details of work carried out to examine the composition of 1,2-indandione formulations and to develop the most effective 1,2-indandione/zinc formulation for use under UK conditions. Previous research into the reactions of 1,2-indandione without zinc ions have concluded that formulations containing methanol produce stable hemiketals, which are less reactive to amino acids, resulting in reduced fluorescence intensity of developed fingermarks. In this study, fingermarks were treated using varying formulations of 1,2-indandione, with and without the presence of methanol and zinc ions. It was found that both were beneficial in producing marks of the highest fluorescence intensity, although too much methanol could have a detrimental effect on the quality the mark due to diffusion of ridge detail. Therefore the 1,2-indandione formulation recommended for further trials has been modified to contain both zinc ions and methanol.