Emerging spectrometric techniques for the forensic analysis of body fluids

• Body fluids are exceptionally useful evidence in forensic investigations.
• Identification of body fluids is problematic and partially unsolved.
• Spectroscopy and spectrometry have good potential to identify body fluids.
• Modern analytical techniques with statistics have a promising future.

Body fluids are evidence of great interest in forensics because they allow identification of individuals through the study of DNA. After reviewing the tests and the methods that are currently being used by forensic practitioners for the detection of body fluids (e.g., blood, semen, saliva, vaginal fluid, urine and sweat), and after showing their main drawbacks and limitations, this work focuses on the review of emerging spectrometric techniques applied for the forensic analysis of body fluids. These techniques include the use of ultraviolet-visible, infrared (IR), Raman, X-ray fluorescence and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry for investigating blood, semen, saliva, urine, vaginal fluid or sweat. Although all these spectrometric techniques seem to have a high potential to differentiate body fluids prior to DNA extraction, IR and Raman spectroscopy have shown the most promising results for discriminating stains from body fluids.