Attenuated Total Reflection probes

Owen, A.W., McAulay, E.A., Nordon, A., Littlejohn, D., Lynch, T.P., Lancaster, J.S., Wright, R.G. (2014) Monitoring of an Esterification Reaction by On-line Direct Liquid Sampling Mass Spectrometry and In-line Mid Infrared Spectrometry with an Attenuated Total Reflectance Probe. Anal. Chim. Acta 849 12-18. 

Fig. 2.8 The attenuated total reflectance probe used as part of the time-resolved attenuated total reflectance far-ultraviolet spectrometer (a). An enlarged figure of the internal reflection element in side view (b) and bottom view (c)...

Figure Bl.22.4. Differential IR absorption spectra from a metal-oxide silicon field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as a fiinction of gate voltage (or inversion layer density, n, which is the parameter reported in the figure). Clear peaks are seen in these spectra for the 0-1, 0-2 and 0-3 inter-electric-field subband transitions that develop for charge carriers when confined to a narrow (<100 A) region near the oxide-semiconductor interface. The inset shows a schematic representation of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) arrangement used in these experiments. These data provide an example of the use of ATR IR spectroscopy for the probing of electronic states in semiconductor surfaces [44]-...

Surface analysis has made enormous contributions to the field of adhesion science. It enabled investigators to probe fundamental aspects of adhesion such as the composition of anodic oxides on metals, the surface composition of polymers that have been pretreated by etching, the nature of reactions occurring at the interface between a primer and a substrate or between a primer and an adhesive, and the orientation of molecules adsorbed onto substrates. Surface analysis has also enabled adhesion scientists to determine the mechanisms responsible for failure of adhesive bonds, especially after exposure to aggressive environments. The objective of this chapter is to review the principals of surface analysis techniques including attenuated total reflection (ATR) and reflection-absorption (RAIR) infrared spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and to present examples of the application of each technique to important problems in adhesion science. 

A number of techniques have been employed that are capable of giving information about amorphous phases. These include infrared spectroscopy, especially the use of the attenuated total reflection (ATR) or Fourier transform (FT) techniques. They also include electron probe microanalysis, scanning electron microscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Nor are wet chemical methods to be neglected for they, too, form part of the armoury of methods that have been used to elucidate the chemistry and microstructure of these materials. 

In addition, since attenuated total reflection (ATR) probes belong to the category of absorbance-reflection spectroscopies, artifacts are kno wn to arise [16]. 

The attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FT-fR) studies of Gendreu, Jakobsen, and others79 have the potential for direct determination of conformational changes during the adsorption process due to shifts in the infrared absorption bands. Sakurai et al. 80,81), have used ATR-FT1R, as well as CD, to probe conformational changes upon adsorption. 

Optical methods are based on fluorescence probe-labeled aptamers (fluorescence intensity, fluorescence anisotropy), or label-free aptamers can be used for detection of analyte using SPR or Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR). 

Attenuated total reflection FTIR is a well-established technique for obtaining absorbance spectra of opaque samples. The mode of interaction is unique because the probing radiation is propagated in a high index-of-refraction internal reflection element (IRE). The radiation interacts with the material of interest, which is in close contact with the IRE, forming an interface across which a nonpropagating evanescent field penetrates the surface of the material of interest to a depth in the order of one wavelength of the radiation. The electric field at the interface penetrates the rarer medium in the form of an evanescent field whose amplitude decays exponentially with distance into the rarer medium. 

There is substantial history regarding the application of conventional vibrational spectroscopy methods to study the intact surface of skin, the extracted stratum corneum and the ceramide-cholesterol-fatty acid mixtures that constitute the primary lipid components of the barrier. The complexity of the barrier and the multiple phases formed by the interactions of the barrier components have begun to reveal the role of each of these substances in barrier structure and stability. The use of bulk phase IR to monitor lipid phase behavior and protein secondary structures in the epidermis, as well as in stratum corneum models, is also well established 24-28 In addition, in vivo and ex vivo attenuated total reflectance (ATR) techniques have examined the outer layers of skin to probe hydration levels, drug delivery and percutaneous absorption at a macroscopic level.29-32 Both mid-IR and near-IR spectroscopy have been used to differentiate pathological skin samples.33,34 The above studies, and many others too numerous to mention, lend confidence to the fact that the extension to IR imaging will produce useful results. 

Biirgi (2005) described equipment combining attenuated total reflection IR with reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. A fiber optical probe was positioned parallel to the surface normal of the internal reflection element in front of a fused silica window in the reactor. The distance from the probe to the catalyst layer was about 4 mm. A second fiber optical arrangement allowed simultaneous acquisition of transmission UV-vis spectra of the effluent liquid from the reactor cell. All measurements were performed with the catalyst at 303 K. 

It has been suggested that the first step of reaction (6) may be the formation of a carboxylic species COOHads. Carboxyl radicals have indeed been observed by Zhu et al." for potentials lower than 0.65 V using Fourier Transform infrared Reflectance Absorption Spectroscopy with the Attenuated Total Reflection mode (ATR-FTtR). Moreover Anderson et al." made numerical simulation which indicated that the formation of an adsorbed carboxylic species was energetically more favorable. Here, it has to be noted that the electro-oxidation of CO being a stracture sensitive reaction (sensitive to the superficial stracture symmehy" and to the presence of surface defects) this species can be used to study the activity of a catalyst but also as a molecular probe to characterize the catalytic surface. ... 

Protein-lipid interactions and particularly peptide-lipid interactions have been studied in supported bilayers by attenuated total reflection (ATR) FTIR spectroscopy. A slightly dated, but still valid comprehensive review on this method applied to supported bilayers has been published (20). Because IR light probes the vibrational properties of different classes of covalent bonds, this method is useful to examine lipids, peptides, and interactions between the two in the same sample. The most common parameter for assessing lipid structure and order is to study the stretching vibrations of the lipid acyl chains, for example as a function of peptide concentration or temperature. Such studies have lead to the conclusion that fusion peptides from viruses increase the lipid chain order of fluid phase bilayers and that... 

The main problem in IR measurements in situ is a strong IR absorption by the solvent water. Therefore the measurements in the classical transmission mode are practically excluded (the path length must not exceed 15 tan). Short path lengths are provided by the attenuated total reflection (ATR) mode. The probing light beam undergoes multiple total internal reflection in the ATR element (e.g. a cylindrical rod made of ZnSe, with two cone-sharpened ends) and each reflection... 

Sample preparation is perhaps the most critical part of a successful IR microspectroscopy experiment In the same way that the IR microscope can be used in a number of ways to collect spectra, so too can sample preparation can approached in a variety of ways. As biological materials are most frequently probed in either transmission mode or reflection mode, these methods will be described here. Other methods are also available, however, such as grazing incidence and attenuated total reflection (ATR) [1]. 

Double beam spectrophotometers allow differential measurements to be made between the sample and the analytical blank. They are preferable to the single beam instruments for cloudy solutions. The bandwidth of high performance instruments can be as small as 0.01 nm. For routine measurements such as monitoring a compound on a production line, an immersion probe is employed. Placed in the sample compartment of the apparatus this accessory contains two fibre-optics, one to conduct the light to the sample and another to recover it after absorption in the media studied. Two types exist by transmission for clear solutions and by attenuated total reflection (ATR) for very absorbent solutions (Figure 9.17). 

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