Ultraviolet/visible radiation absorption

The measurement of absorption of ultraviolet-visible radiation is of a relative nature. One must continually compare the absorption of the sample with that of an analytical reference or blank to insure the reliability of the measurement. The rate at which the sample and reference are compared depends on the design of the instrument. In single-beam instruments there is only one light beam or optical path from the source through to the detector. This usually means that one must remove the sample from the light beam and replace it with the reference after each reading. Thus, there is usually an interval of several seconds between measurements. 

The extent of absorption of ultraviolet-visible radiation is proportional to the number of molecules capable of undergoing the observed electronic transition therefore. 

IR radiation is not energetic enough to bring about the kinds of electronic transitions that we have encountered in our di.scussions of ultraviolet and visible radiation. Absorption of IR radiation is thus confined largely to molecular species that have small energy differences between various vibrational and rotational states. 

The units of wavenumber are almost always chosen as reciprocal centimeters (cm ), so we can picture the wavenumber of radiation as the number of complete wavelengths per centimeter. The frequencies, wavelengths, and wavenumbers of the various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum were summarized in Fig. F.7. In this chapter we concentrate on vibrational and electronic transitions, which can be excited by the absorption of infrared and ultraviolet-visible radiation, respectively. 

Chromophore (Section 13 21) The structural unit of a mole cule principally responsible for absorption of radiation of a particular frequency a term usually applied to ultraviolet visible spectroscopy... 

In absorption spectroscopy a beam of electromagnetic radiation passes through a sample. Much of the radiation is transmitted without a loss in intensity. At selected frequencies, however, the radiation s intensity is attenuated. This process of attenuation is called absorption. Two general requirements must be met if an analyte is to absorb electromagnetic radiation. The first requirement is that there must be a mechanism by which the radiation s electric field or magnetic field interacts with the analyte. For ultraviolet and visible radiation, this interaction involves the electronic energy of valence electrons. A chemical bond s vibrational energy is altered by the absorbance of infrared radiation. A more detailed treatment of this interaction, and its importance in deter-... 

The determination of an analyte s concentration based on its absorption of ultraviolet or visible radiation is one of the most frequently encountered quantitative analytical methods. One reason for its popularity is that many organic and inorganic compounds have strong absorption bands in the UV/Vis region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In addition, analytes that do not absorb UV/Vis radiation, or that absorb such radiation only weakly, frequently can be chemically coupled to a species that does. For example, nonabsorbing solutions of Pb + can be reacted with dithizone to form the red Pb-dithizonate complex. An additional advantage to UV/Vis absorption is that in most cases it is relatively easy to adjust experimental and instrumental conditions so that Beer s law is obeyed. 

As discussed earlier in Section lOC.l, ultraviolet, visible and infrared absorption bands result from the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by specific valence electrons or bonds. The energy at which the absorption occurs, as well as the intensity of the absorption, is determined by the chemical environment of the absorbing moiety. Eor example, benzene has several ultraviolet absorption bands due to 7t —> 71 transitions. The position and intensity of two of these bands, 203.5 nm (8 = 7400) and 254 nm (8 = 204), are very sensitive to substitution. Eor benzoic acid, in which a carboxylic acid group replaces one of the aromatic hydrogens, the... 

Absorption of ultraviolet and visible radiation in organic molecules is restricted to certain functional groups (chromophores) that contain valence electrons of low excitation energy (Figure 4). The spectrum of a molecule containing these chromophores is complex. This is because the superposition of rotational and vibrational transitions on the electronic transitions gives a combination of overlapping lines. This appears as a continuous absorption band. 

From comparison of the data presented in Table 2.2 [8], it is obvious that the energy of the microwave photon at a frequency of 2.45 GHz (0.0016 eV) is too low to cleave molecular bonds and is also lower than Brownian motion. It is therefore clear that microwaves cannot induce chemical reactions by direct absorption of electromagnetic energy, as opposed to ultraviolet and visible radiation (photochemistry). 

A. Photoluminescence An excited state is produced by the absorption of ultraviolet, visible, or near-infrared radiation... 

Molecular absorption spectroscopy deals with measurement of the ultraviolet-visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation transmitted or reflected by a sample as a function of the wavelength. Ordinarily, the intensity of the energy transmitted is compared to that transmitted by some other system that serves as a standard. 

Spectroscopy produces spectra which arise as a result of interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. The type of interaction (electronic or nuclear transition, molecular vibration or electron loss) depends upon the wavelength of the radiation (Tab. 7.1). The most widely applied techniques are infrared (IR), Mossbauer, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), and in recent years, various forms ofX-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy which probe the local structure of the elements. Less widely used techniques are Raman spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion imaging mass spectroscopy (SIMS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), electron spin resonance (ESR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. 

That the hydrated electron is a separate chemical entity has been demonstrated by the technique of pulse radi l sis This consists of subjecting a sample of pure water to a very short pulse of accelerated electrons. The energetic electrons have the same effect upon water as a beam of y-ray photons. Shortly after the pulse of electrons has interacted with the water, a short flash of radiation (ultraviolet and visible radiation from a discharge tube) is passed through the irradiated water sample at an angle of 90° to the direction of the pulse to detect the absorption spectra... 

In atomic spectroscopy, a substance is decomposed into atoms in a flame, furnace, or plasma. (A plasma is a gas that is hot enough to contain ions and free electrons.) Each element is measured by absorption or emission of ultraviolet or visible radiation by the gaseous atoms. To measure trace elements in a tooth, tiny portions of the tooth are vaporized (ablated) by a laser pulse1 and swept into a plasma. The plasma ionizes some of the atoms, which pass into a mass spectrometer that separates ions by their mass and measures their quantity. 

Photochromism can be defined as a reversible change between species having different absorption spectra, the initial change being induced by the action of electromagnetic radiation, usually in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions. The product is generally thermodynamically less stable, and consequently the reverse reaction is spontaneous and thermally induced. 

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