Keywords

DART – HRMS, lubricants, hexane, competitive ionization

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of solvent – based extraction methods for the recovery of lubricant residues from simulated sexual assault swabs, with emphasis on balancing chemical evidence recovery. Sequential extraction using ultra – pure water followed by organic solvents, hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), and ethyl acetate (EA), was evaluated across water – based, silicone – based, oil – based, and hygiene product matrices. Analysis was performed using Direct Analysis in Real Time – High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (DART – HRMS), and extraction efficiency was assessed through spectral correlation with neat reference samples. Results demonstrated that solvent performance was highly dependent on lubricant composition. Water extraction yielded strong recovery for polar, water – based systems, while hexane and DCM were more effective for nonpolar silicone – based lubricants. Oil – based and hygiene products exhibited variable and often reduced correlation values, reflecting increased compositional complexity. In several cases, low or negative correlations were observed, attributed to competitive ionization and matrix effects inherent to DART – HRMS. These findings highlight that no single solvent is universally effective and support the use of sequential extraction strategies. Future work will focus on evaluating the impact of these methods on biological evidence, including DNA recovery, to further optimize forensic workflows.

Thesis Completion Year

2026

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Bridge, Candice

College

College of Sciences

Department

Department of Chemistry

Thesis Discipline

Forensic Science

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright