Towards the identification of original dyes in chromogenic films: the development of an approach based on chemical analyses

Four colourmovie films of different brands and with different polymeric support, dated from 1990 to 2006, were studied from the point of view of the chemical structure of the chromogenic dyes. Both spectroscopic (Raman and surface-enhanced Raman) and chromatographic (thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) techniques were used, and it was possible to establish a comparison between the dyes in the different films, together with a tentative attribution to couplers of different molecular classes.