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In the search for better or new methods/techniques to visualise fingermarks or to analyse them exploiting their chemical content, fingermarks inter-variability may hinder the assessment of the method effectiveness. Variability is due to changes in the chemical composition of the fingermarks between different donors and within the same donor, as well as to differential contact time, pressure and angle. When validating a method or comparing it with existing ones, it is not always possible to account for this type of variability. One way to compensate for these issues is to employ, in the early stages of the method development, a device generating reproducible fingermarks. Here the authors present their take on such device, as well as quantitatively describing its performance and benefits against the manual production of marks. Finally a short application is illustrated for the use of this device, at the method developmental stages, in an emerging area of fingerprinting research concerning the retrieval of chemical intelligence from fingermarks.

The direct observation of pre-formed hydrogen bonded fluoride complexes by mass spectrometry has been achieved for the first time by fast atom bombardment of the solid and liquid samples. For a series of substituted phenols hydrogen bonded to fluoride it has been found that the substituents affect the apparent stability of the complexes as measured by the relative intensities of the ion peaks.

Potassium fluoride forms a thermally stable strongly hydrogen bonded complex with 4-cyanophenol. The complex is a very usefulsubstrate for the formation of biaryl ethers via denitration ordechlorination.