home

Infrared Spectroscopy

A reference interval has been established for tissue oxygen saturation levels (StO<sub>2</sub>) in dogs measured using a portable near-infrared spectroscope and sites for reproducibly measuring StO<sub>2</sub>) levels in dogs were determined.

The planet HD 189733b, one of several "hot Jupiters", suffers from a high concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide as revealed by near-infrared spectroscopy. The discovery represents a small, but significant, step to finding life's building materials on planets beyond the solar system.

The techniques of atomic force microscopy and Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy are applied to the analysis of gun-shot residue to test their ability to determine shooting distance and discrimination of the powder manufacturers.

US researchers have turned to near-infrared spectroscopy to help them solve one of the most puzzling properties of polymer glasses, plastics - how they can be both rigid solids and yet flow when under stress as if they were liquids. The phenomenon, it seems, at least with regard to polymethylmethacrylate is underpinned by molecular motions under stress.

ATR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging has been used to analyse in situ the spatial distribution of different components in tablets with different compositions, including various water-soluble polymers that are added to improve dissolution and compaction properties.

Rather than designing and building new instrumentation from bespoke components, researchers in Canada have hacked the laser-based optical read-write technology of DVD and CD players to create a biomedical diagnostics system.

The application of near-infrared spectroscopy to process control in the food industry is reviewed. Complex processes such as meat tenderness evaluation and dough mixing can be monitored and controlled in situ to produce consistent, high quality end products.

Impure forms of illicit drugs are almost as big a problem as the drugs themselves. Now, researchers in Spain have used diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy (DR-NIR) to quickly determine the purity of heroin.

It is what fans of science fiction and technologists have been waiting for since HG Wells' Invisible Man first came into view - or not, as the case may be. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have engineered three-dimensional metamaterials that can reverse the natural direction of visible and near-infrared light, which could one day lead to an invisibility device.

The advantages of this fast, noninvasive high-throughput NIRS methods are summarised, discussed in detail and different applications of the individual characterised materials are shown.

FTIR microscopy coupled to a curve-fitting procedure has been used to analyze secondary structure modifications in elastin and collagen in human normal and pathological aortic tissues.

IR spectroscopy of soil fertilised with farm manure reveals that soil quality can be improved significantly compared to "traditional" modern inorganic farming methods and allow poor quality land to be farmed..

The ability of MIRS to predict the chemical and biological properties of organic matter in soils and litter was studied for 56 samples from agricultural and forest sites. The spectra included part of the near-infrared region (7000-400 cm<sup>-1</sup>).

New insights offered by near infrared spectroscopy into the mineralogy of carbonate rocks could help improve the outlook for carbon capture and storage in efforts to reduce the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on the global climate.

Lipid peroxidation and protein beta-sheet formation in different brain areas of rats treated with nicotine and/or D(+)-amphetamine have been monitored using infrared microspectroscopy.

Near infra-red spectroscopy could be use to analyse cowpats and help farmers improve the diet and so yields from their livestock, according to new work to be published in the journal Animal Feed Science & Technology.

The long-standing problem of understanding the nature of the excess proton in acidified water is simplified by studying the proton in methanol by IR spectroscopy. The data indicate that a chain of up to four O-H-O bonds can act as an electrical wire to separate positive charge.

Ants are perhaps not the first organism one would turn to for medical assistance, but researchers in Hong Kong and Japan have now used IR and NMR spectroscopy to study the absolute structures of compounds extracted from Chinese medicinal ants that are thought to have anti-arthritic activity and be beneficial in treating hepatitis.

IR spectroscopy is particularly useful for analysis of organic compounds and in this primer by William Reusch of Michigan State University, the reader is given a thorough grounding in all the basics of the technique with the aid of some useful interactive graphics and problems.

A novel method for analysing ex situ-prepared chips by ATR-FTIR circumvents tedious functionalisation steps of internal reflection elements and simultaneously allows for complementary measurements by other analytical techniques.