Understanding Why Researchers Should Use Synchrotron-Enhanced FTIR Instead of Traditional FTIR

Abstract

Synchrotron-enhanced Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) is a relatively new method of combining a synchrotron's unrivaled brightness, power, focusability, polarization, and tunability with the well-established analytical approach of a traditional FTIR. Although SR-FTIR photons range from infrared (IR) through soft X-ray, applications and discussions herein are limited to the IR range of the spectrum. A SR-FTIR system detects, interacts with, and examines molecular species that respond to IR photons (IR responsive). Thus, SR-FTIR is able to examine only the lighter elements (i.e., C, N, O, etc.), which are the most common elements found on earth. The ability to study these elements using the superior abilities of SR-FTIR, versus traditional FTIR, is transforming scientific understanding of many species interactions (i.e., biological, organic, etc.). Furthermore, the lighter elements are invisible to the only other synchrotron (SR) category, a relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC or, colloquially, an atom smasher), which detects heavier elements that are invisible to a SR-FTIR (i.e., Ta, Pt, Au, etc.)

Superoxide Ion: Generation and Chemical Implications

“…Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a prolific method with extraordinary advantages that provides insight into the structure and bonding of molecules. − Numerous in situ IR instruments have been modified, such as in situ attenuated total reflection Fourier transform IR (FTIR-ATR), − in situ potential-dependent FTIR emission spectroscopy (pd-FTIRES), in situ diffuse reflectance FTIR, surface-enhanced IR reflection absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS), and synchrotron-enhanced FTIR. − Compared with IR, ESR is less applicable to the studies relevant to oxygen species adsorbed on numerous paramagnetic oxides. By contrast, IR and FTIR have been widely used for the in situ analysis of adsorbed species and surface reactions.…”

Archaeometallurgy using synchrotron radiation: a review

“…FTIR is a near surface technique which provides characteristic spectra indicative of the chemical or molecular bonding at the near surface as noted in table 1. Due to the higher beam intensity (approximately three orders of magnitude greater), flux, and brightness available at SR facilities, a very small spot size (<10×10 µm 2 ) is achievable using SR FTIR as compared with conventional FTIR [12,75,76]. Unlike conventional FTIR, SR FTIR covers the entire IR spectrum due to the highly coherent broadband IR source [75].…”

Synchrotron Radiation-Based FTIR Microspectroscopic Imaging of Traumatically Injured Mouse Brain Tissue Slices

“…Relying on purely constituent molecular species of a sample rather than exogenous contrast agents, radioactive elements, or coloring chemicals, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging techniques enable label-free detection of biochemical information on biological samples and have the potential to revolutionize histopathology for improved disease diagnosis. − Various biological tissue samples such as prostate tissue sections from patients, lung cross sections from a mouse inoculated with tumor cells, and brain tumor or diseased brain tissue sections from patients or animal models − have been successfully investigated, and the capability of biochemistry-based recognition of the diseased state of biological tissues by FTIR has been confirmed. Particularly, the emergence of synchrotron radiation (SR)-based FTIR spectroscopic imaging techniques further improves the performance of FTIR in revealing detailed spectral information necessary for the identification of a sample’s constituent species due to its much higher signal-to-noise ratio and less damage to biological samples than conventional FTIR techniques. − Using SR-FTIR spectroscopic mapping techniques, researchers in different fields have made numerous significant findings such as elevated lipid-enveloping dense-core amyloid plaques in model mouse and human Alzheimer’s disease brain sections, protein-related changes associated with the malignancy grade of human brain gliomas, constituent changes of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids within single human mesenchymal stem cells, and nonpolar phospholipid-rich multilayered myelin sheath possessing higher refraction indexes within certain wavelengths than axon in a myelinated neural axon . These studies strongly support that SR-FTIR spectroscopic mapping may offer great promise for the accurate diagnosis of diseased biological samples.…”