Development of the Exact Mass Database of Surfactants and Its Forensic Application

A simple, rapid, and reliable screening method that allows us to simultaneously detect surfactants in forensic samples without their standards has been developed by using liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOF-MS).The exact mass database for 93 kinds of surfactants (amounting to 6,158 compounds) was constructed by considering the carbon number distribution of alkyl groups and the degree of polymerization of polyoxyethylene moieties. In order to achieve more reliable results, the surfactants’ distinct retention times have also been added to the database by analyzing 34 kinds (642 compounds) of their standards. The newly developed method could distinguish not only between surfactants that have the same integer mass, but also between the structural isomers. This study is the first report highlighting the comprehensive screening of surfactants using an exact mass database in the field of forensic science, and the method is expected to become a powerful tool for the forensic analyses of various samples, including adulterated foods, drinks, and manufactured products, among other things.