AimThe capability to provide timely forensic analytical information is of paramount importance in criminal investigations involving chemical substances of toxicological interest. Miniaturized Gas Chromatography (GC) systems are suitable sensors to be deployed on the scene of crime, allowing to analyse specimens there, providing timely information to protect security and safety of specialists on-site and saving the time needed to collect, transport and analyse them in a forensic laboratory.MethodAn innovative hand-portable point sensor has been recently developed using a fully Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS)-based compact-GC platform of the size of a few cm3 coupled to a miniaturized detector based on InfraRed Quartz Enhanced Photo Acoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS). Sensing is based on the piezoelectric transduction of the photo-acoustic signal that is generated when laser radiation is absorbed by …