Posts Tagged spectroscopy

Multidimensional Technique Enhances Vibrational Spectroscopy

By combining ultrashort pulses from a mid-infrared laser with pulses of visible light, chemists at the University of Illinois have added an important new dimension to vibrational spectroscopy. The new spectroscopic technique allows researchers to investigate vibrational energy redistribution in molecules with unprecedented detail.

“Molecules have specific vibrational motions, which can be used as spectral fingerprints,” said Dana Dlott, a UI professor of chemistry. “Our spectroscopic method allows us to monitor vibrational energy flow through a molecule on femtosecond time scales. We can therefore characterize the dynamic mechanical properties of molecules in real time — which is important in virtually every chemical process and of special interest in the field of nanotechnology, where machines will be the size of molecules.”

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System Combines Capillary Electrophoresis And NMR Spectroscopy

By using micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a chip-based analytical system that combines capillary electrophoresis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Integrated microfluidic-NMR systems could have important applications in a wide variety of combinatorial chemistry areas — such as drug discovery — and might facilitate the development of desktop NMR spectrometers.

“Capillary electrophoresis and NMR spectroscopy have competing design goals, but by integrating them with MEMS technology we can maximize the performance of both systems,” said David Beebe, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the university’s Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. “By using very small channels and samples, we can do high-performance capillary electrophoresis separations. And by performing those separations multiple times, we can collect a large enough sample to do NMR spectroscopy.”

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MR Spectroscopy Helps Identify Cancerous Breast Tumors

Measuring the biochemical changes in breast tumors with magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy enables radiologists to more accurately distinguish benign tumors from cancerous ones, according to a study appearing in the August issue of the journal Radiology.

“Adding spectroscopy to breast MR examinations will not only reduce concern over possible missed cancers and unnecessary biopsy procedures, it may also improve the efficiency and quality of patient care,” said co-author Sina Meisamy, M.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota Center for Magnetic Resonance Research in Minneapolis.

MR imaging of the breasts has a high rate of sensitivity (94 percent – 100 percent) for detecting tumors, but a variable rate of specificity (37 percent – 97 percent) for distinguishing malignant from benign tumors.

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Researchers Demonstrate Single Molecule Absorption Spectroscopy

A powerful new tool for probing molecular structure on surfaces has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Single molecule absorption spectroscopy can enhance molecular analysis, surface manipulation and studies of molecular energy and reactivity at the atomic level.

“This new measurement method combines the chemical selectivity of optical absorption spectroscopy with the atomic-scale resolution of scanning tunneling microscopy,” said Martin Gruebele, a professor of chemistry, physics and biophysics and corresponding author of a paper accepted for publication in the journal Nano Letters, and posted on its Web site. “The method literally feels how a molecule changes shape when it absorbs energy.”

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