Visualization Using Raman Spectroscopy

Resonance Raman Spectroscopy. A review of the interpretation of resonance Raman spectra of biological molecules includes a consideration of carotenoids and retinal derivatives. Another review of resonance Raman studies of visual pigments deals extensively with retinals. Excitation profiles of the coherent anti-Stokes resonance Raman spectrum of j8-carotene have been presented. Resonance Raman spectroscopic methods have been used for the detection of very low concentrations of carotenoids in blood plasma and for the determination of carotenoid concentrations in marine phytoplankton, either in situ or in acetone extracts. ... 

Infrared and Resonance Raman Spectroscopy. Reviewson the uses of resonance Raman spectroscopy in biochemistry and biology include sections on carotenoproteins, visual pigments, and bacteriorhodopsin. The resonance Raman spectrum of the lowest excited triplet state of /3-carotene has been reported.A resonance Raman method has been used for the quantitative analysis of /3-carotene and lutein (20) in tobacco.The mechanism of carotenoid-protein interactions in the carotenoproteins ovoverdin and /3-crustacyanin has been investigated by resonance Raman spectroscopy. " 2 axanthin (24) has been used as a resonance Raman probe of membrane structure. " The resonance Raman spectra have been reported of all-frans-anhydrovitamin A (194), " /3-ionone, retinals, and Schiff bases.The technique has been used extensively to study... 

Since IR spectroscopy is a standard, and perhaps currently the most widely used tool in the search for and characterization of polymorphs, there are likely to be thousands of references to the use of the technique in connection with polymorphs. The vast majority of these deal with the determination of the IR fingerprint of a polymorphic modification. In this section, we wish to note a few cases in which the IR and Raman techniques were employed to obtain chemical information somewhat beyond the mere identification of a particular crystal modification. For instance, Mathieu (1973) showed for a number of chiral compounds that it is possible to distinguish between a dl racemate and a conglomerate of d and / crystals by use of IR and/or Raman spectroscopy, even when it may not be possible to make such a distinction by physical or visual means. 

Because Raman signals are typically weak, intense lasers in combination with sophisticated tight collection must be used. Although intense laser radiation can potentially harm the delicate structures in the visual system, ocular tissue has been found to be a very suitable target for Raman spectroscopy for two reasons. First, the ocular media (cornea, lens and vitreous) generally have good optical clarity, which enables high penetration of laser excitation and optical detection of scattered... 

Polymer Structure. In addition to visualization, profiling, thickness measurements and chemistry of polymer wear it is frequently desirable to know whether the polymer is in the amorphous or crystalline state because other properties relate to state. Raman spectroscopy is very useful in studying very low frequency modes associated with vibrations of polymer chain backbones and the lattice modes of polymer crystals. It complements infrared spectroscopy. 

Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy. Resonance Raman spectra of aW-trans- and 15-CW-/3-carotene have been compared.The ps resonance Raman spectrum of /8-carotene has been described,and solvent effects on the excitation profile of the line of jS-carotene have been studied. Model calculations have been used to interpret observed jS-carotene Raman spectra and excitation profiles. Raman scattering spectra of j8-carotene-l2 complexes have been determined. Resonance Raman spectra of carotenoids have been used as an intrinsic probe for membrane potential, e.g. neurosporene [7,8-dihydro-(/r,(/r-carotene (183)] in chromatophores of Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. ° Resonance Raman spectroscopy and i.r. spectroscopy have been used in studies of the chromophore of visual pigments and visual cycle intermediates and of bacteriorhodopsin and its photocycle intermediates. ... 

Time-resolved Raman spectroscopy has proved to be a very useful tool to elucidate fast processes in biological molecules, for instance, to follow the fast structural changes during the visual process where, after photoexcitation of rhodopsin molecules, a sequence of energy transfer processes involving isomerization and proton transfer takes place. This subject is treated in more detail in Chap. 6 in comparison with other time-resolved techniques. 

Another specific membrane has been studied by confocal Raman spectroscopy human skin. The Raman effect has been used to visualize water concentration profiles in human skin in vivo [58, 59] and transdermal drug delivery. Optical sections can be obtained without the needs for physically dissecting the tissue. 

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