The development of novel ninhydrin analogues

Following its discovery by Siegfried Ruhemann in 1910, ninhydrin rapidly became a practical analytical tool. In 1954 it was found to be an important reagent to develop fingerprints on porous surfaces. Since its use in forensic chemistry, many efforts have focused on improving the reagent. Many of the shortcomings of ninhydrin have been met by the synthesis of a variety of ninhydrin analogues. This tutorial review provides a short introduction to ninhydrin and highlights the different synthetic approaches used in the development of analogues for the detection of latent fingerprints.