Rapid and direct detection of artificially aged papers employing easy ambient sonic‐spray ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract

Rationale The effort to make fake documents look real leads to the use of crickets and beverages to produce artificially aged papers, as land titles, based on yellowing caused by the use of these methods. An old practice in Brazil, called “cricketing”, has led to the misappropriation of Brazilian land using these documents. We propose a rapid, simple, instantaneous and non‐destructive method to identify artificially aged papers by easy ambient sonic‐spray ionization mass spectrometry (EASI‐MS) analysis. Methods Three typical aging procedures were used to obtain artificially aged papers using coffee, cola drink, and crickets, with the papers being analyzed by EASI‐MS. Multivariate statistical analyses were performed on the data to find the sample groups and to study the most relevant ions of each ageing procedure. High‐resolution MS (HRMS) was used to obtain the exact masses and attribute formulae to relevant ions present in the samples. Results The combination of EASI‐MS and multivariate statistical analyses allowed us to identify the most relevant ions to classify the adulteration of documents and HRMS identified most of these relevant ions. TMS fingerprinting in combination with multivariate analysis also demonstrated that this approach can qualitatively differentiate all the examined paper samples. Conclusions We developed a cheap, fast and easy method that can help to elucidate counterfeit documents that have been artificially aged, helping to identify chemical additives and one that can be used in forensic laboratories.

Una visión interdisciplinar sobre la producción, la circulación, el almacenamiento y el consumo de vino en el Noroeste peninsular: el caso de Castro de Avelãs (Bragança-Portugal)

“…Los análisis de cromatografía de gases realizados a las piezas leonesas proponen el aceite de oliva como contenido principal (Morillo et al, 2015). Mientras que para alguna de las ánforas de fondo plano de Lugo se ha propuesto un producto de origen marino como los moluscos (Oliveira et al, 2015). Sin embargo, en Armea, Santomé o incluso en Santa Lucía aparecen vinculadas a zonas de producción de vino (lagares y bodegas), por lo que parece probable que fuesen utilizadas para almacenar y transportar este producto.…”

Caffeine quantification in dietary supplements using high-throughput on-line solid phase extraction coupled to Venturi easy ambient sonic-spray ionization mass spectrometry

“…The concept of ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) started with desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) 1 and direct analysis in real-time (DART) 2 aiming to perform analysis under ambient conditions, which had a significant impact in MS. Since then, combinations of sample insertion modes and ambient ionization techniques have been developed and applied in various fields, including food safety screening, 3 forensic, 4 environmental pollutant monitoring, 5 proteomic and metabolomic studies. 6 Nowadays, this concept has been reviewed as “ambient ionization is a form of ionization where sample preparation takes place in real-time and proximal to the ionization source and during the analysis of analytes”.…”

Forensic Examination of Artificially Aged Document by Non-Destructive Technique.

“…The use of gas chromatography/Mass Spectrometry in SIM mode [4], time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) [5], Liquid chromatography/mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) [6], UV-VIS Spectroscopy, Infrared Spectroscopy (IR), and Wet Chemical Analysis [7], accelerate light ageing as well as colour measurements. [8], kinetic analysis [9], modelling of dyes and solvents ageing using GC/MS [10], FTIR [11], Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) [12], X-ray diffraction spectrometry paper [13], Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) [14], Easy Ambient Sonic-spray Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (EASI-MS) and High Resolution Mass Spectroscopy (HRMS) [1], Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) [15], Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction (HS-SPME) coupled with Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) [7], Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry (PS-MS) [16]. Hyperspectral Imaging [17].…”