PB15 were not collected due to paramagnetic characteristics of copper (Cu), which gener- ate local magnetic fields that might interfere with the NMR measurements. We did find distinct peaks in PY65 at approximately 38 ppm and 58 ppm, which were associated with the presence of methyl groups (CH 3 -O, CH 3 - C=O). Peaks at 145 ppm and 155 ppm were correlated to the presence of C-NO 2 and Ar-O groups, which were only found in PY65 (Blau et al., 2008). These peaks were not found in any of the inks, suggesting that none of them contained PY65. Moreover, PY14 had peaks between 130 ppm and 140 ppm and at 20 ppm and 30 ppm that can be attributed to the presence of the C-Cl and methyl group (C-CH 3 and O=C-CH 3 ). These peaks were identified in all inks, which confirmed the presence of PY14 in them. In addition, NMR characterization did not confirm the presence of PO13 in the LY, GY, and GR inks, which is because PO13 had distinguishing peaks between 150 ppm and 160 ppm that were not detected in these inks. There was also a slight chemical shift of the peak at 12 ppm, which was assigned to the CH 3 group in PO13. The presence of PO13 in the BO ink was consistent with the manu- facturer’s ingredients, with small quantities as identified in the NMR spectra. These NMR spectra for the three pigments were consis- tent with those spectra reported in the litera- ture (Feng et al., 2019). The presence of PY14 was confirmed by FTIR and NMR analyses in all three inks. The results from FTIR and NMR analyses clearly show that LY ink contains PY14 instead of PY65. This finding contradicts the manufac- turer’s label claim that LY ink contains PY65 (not PY14), but is consistent with the decla- ration in the MSDS that indicates PY14. Fur- thermore, the presence of PO13 in both the GY and GR inks could not be confirmed, as the FTIR and NMR spectra did not contain the characteristic peaks expected from PO13. The absence of PO13 in the GY ink is con- sistent with the MSDS for the ink (at time of purchase) and indicates that, once again, the ink bottle might have been mislabeled. The absence of PO13 in the GR ink is in contrast with the label and MSDS for this ink. It could be, however, that the amount of PO13 used in these inks was too small for the instrumen- tation to detect (i.e., <2 mg of PO13 in 100 mg of dried tattoo ink). This threshold was
FIGURE 4
X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Data Analysis of Organic and Inorganic Pigments
Note. This analysis compared the spectra from the lemon yellow (LY), golden yellow (GY), golden rod (GR), and bright orange (BO) tattoo inks. Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) was identified in the BO and GY inks. BaSO 4 = barium sulfate; D-BO = dried ink, bright orange; D-GR = dried ink, golden rod; D-GY = dried ink, golden yellow; D-LY = dried ink, lemon yellow; PB = pigment blue; PO = pigment orange; PY = pigment yellow.
FIGURE 5
Baseline-Corrected Raman Spectra of Reference Pigments and Tattoo Inks
Note. LY = lemon yellow; GY = golden yellow; GR = golden rod; PO = pigment orange; PY = pigment yellow.
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September 2025 • Journal of Environmental Health
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