LC-MS and FT-IR characterization of amber artefacts

Abstract

This work focuses on using analytical methods, such as Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with mass spectrometry (MS) detection to assess archaeological and geological amber. The main goal of this study is to apply the previously developed and optimized analytical methods in verifying criteria to ascribe and characterize the origin of materials found in archaeological sites. The proposed LC-MS method was successfully applied for the quantification of succinic acid content both in geological and archaeological samples of amber and offers excellent linearity between 0.1 and 5μg mL -1 . The developed FTIR method provided some criteria which is able to differentiate between Baltic and Romanian amber (Romanite) that furthermore validates on archaeological amber artefacts. © Versita Sp. z o.o.