Title: Fundamentals of Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy
Abstract: This chapter focuses on quantitative molecular absorption spectroscopy, one of the most important and common applications of spectroscopy. The word quantitative means measuring the concentrations of the chemical species in a sample. The word molecular relates to the molecules, not the atoms or elements in a sample. The word absorption stands for the amount of light absorbed by a sample to quantify the amount of substance present. Thus, the purpose of spectroscopic quantitative analysis in this context is to determine the concentration of a molecule or molecules in a sample using absorbance spectra. The molecule whose concentration is measured is called the analyte. The peak heights or areas in an analyte's absorbance spectrum are directly proportional to the concentration of the analyte. To establish the correlation between absorbance and concentration, one must take the spectra of standards, samples that contain known concentrations of the analyte. Through a process called calibration, a mathematical model is generated that correlates the absorbances to the known concentrations in the standard samples. Once an accurate calibration is in hand, the spectrum of a sample with an unknown concentration of the analyte, the unknown, is measured. The concentration of the analyte in the unknown sample is predicted by applying the calibration to the absorbances in the unknown spectrum.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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