An approach to construct a secondary asynchronous spectrum
via sample–sample correlation (SASS) is proposed to analyze
bilinear data from hyphenated spectroscopic experiments. In SASS,
bilinear data is used to construct a series of two-dimensional (2D)
sample–sample correlation spectra. Then a vertical slice is
extracted from each 2D sample–sample correlation spectrum so
that a secondary 2D asynchronous spectrum is constructed via these
slices. The advantage of SASS is demonstrated by a model system with
the following challenging situations: (1) Temporal profiles of different
components severely overlap, making spectra of pure components difficult
to directly obtain from either original bilinear data or multivariate
curve resolution-alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) with non-negativity
and unimodality constraints. (2) Every peak in the spectra of the
eluted samples contains contributions from at least two components.
Hence, two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) and n-dimensional (nD) asynchronous spectroscopic
method developed in our previous work, which previously worked so
well, are now invalid. SASS managed to reveal different groups of
systematic absences of cross peaks (SACPs) that reflect the lack of
spectral contributions of different components at different regions
in the second asynchronous spectrum. Spectra of different components
can still be faithfully retrieved via MCR-ALS calculation using constraints
revealed by different groups of SACPs. The results demonstrate that
implicit but intrinsic information revealed by SASS is indispensable
in solving challenging bilinear data as the model system. We applied
SASS on two real-world examples from thermogravimetry-Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (TG-FT-IR) experiments of mixtures (H2O/HOD/D2O and H2O/isopropanol/pyridine). FT-IR
spectra of different components were successfully recovered. Moreover,
FT-IR spectrum of HOD, which is difficult to obtain, was successfully
extracted. SASS can be applied in the analysis of gaseous mixtures
from TG-FT-IR experiment and a combination of quantum cascade lasers
with substrate-integrated hollow waveguides in environmental monitoring
and biomedical diagnosis. Furthermore, SASS is also useful in various
advanced hyphenated spectroscopic experiments.