Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2014
Poster Presentation
Forensic Analysis of Lipsticks Using HPLC
Brittany Stirmell and Jessica Baker
Faculty Mentor: Brian Bellott
Chemistry
Currently research in our laboratories is being conducted to develop methods for
extracting and separating lipstick samples that are left on different mediums at the
scene of a crime. If lipstick is left behind the chemical substituents within the lipstick can
be separated into a unique set of bands. This set can then be compared to known
separations of lipstick in order to determine the make and color. This could be very
useful when initially determining suspects.
Prior to beginning high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), the extracted
chemicals from the lipsticks are mixed with methanol and then some of that solution is
mixed with acetonitrile (ACN). This process is repeated two more times; each time
taking some of the previous sample and mixing it with ACN to create a new, more
diluted sample. Each of the three samples is then run through HPLC at least three times
for at least 15 minutes each time.
These results will be compared to that of the lab prepared samples in order to test the
effectiveness of the HPLC separation method on more realistic samples.