Temporal profiling of human urine VOCs and its potential role under the ruins of collapsed buildings.

Context: The scent profile of human urine was investigated as potential source of chemical markers of human presence in collapsed buildings after natural or man-made disasters.

Objective: The main goals of this study were to build a library of potential biomarkers of human urine to be used for the detection of entrapped victims and to further examine their evolution profile in time.

Materials And Methods: Headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) was used to detect and identify the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) spontaneously released from urine of 20 healthy volunteers.