Indexed on: 07 Sep '18Published on: 27 Aug '18Published in: Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly
New ninhydrin derivatives were designed for the development of latent fingerprints on paper surfaces. The target compounds combine the selectivity of an amino acid-sensitive reagent with the variability of spectral characteristics of a fluorescent probe. These ninhydrin analogues, 2,2-dihydroxy-5-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy)-2H-indane-1,3-diones, prepared by multistep synthesis show enhanced fluorogenic properties compared with the commonly used ninhydrin. These types of derivatives can be potentially used for development of the latent prints on the dark surfaces, because their ninhydrin reaction products provide fluorescent prints under the UV light. The prints developed using these compounds are stable, visible and do not vanish from paper for a relatively long time (5 months).