A New Europium Chelate as a Fluorescent Dye for Cyanoacrylate Pretreated Fingerprints—EuTTAPhen: Europium ThenoylTrifluoroAcetone Ortho-Phenanthroline

Abstract

Abstract The use of luminescent dyes to enhance fingerprints developed with cyanoacrylate is now a well established procedure in most fingerprint laboratories. Misner, Wilkinson and Watkin [1] have proposed a new fluorescent dye using an Europium complex (TEC). The purpose of the present paper is to report on further studies of this dye (TEC) and some analogues. Preliminary tests on cyanoacrylate pretreated fingerprints showed that a formulation of EuTTAPhen (Europium ThenoylTrifluoroAcetone ortho-phenanthroline) was the most efficient complex giving the best luminescence intensity of the treated fingerprints, a Stokes shift of 262 nm and reduced practical drawbacks.