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4: Chemical Speciation

  • Page ID
    55870
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    • 4.1: Magnetism
      The magnetic moment of a material is the incomplete cancellation of the atomic magnetic moments in that material. Electron spin and orbital motion both have magnetic moments associated with them but in most atoms the electronic moments are oriented usually randomly so that overall in the material they cancel each other out; this is called diamagnetism.
    • 4.2: IR Spectroscopy
      Infrared spectroscopy is based on molecular vibrations caused by the oscillation of molecular dipoles. Bonds have characteristic vibrations depending on the atoms in the bond, the number of bonds and the orientation of those bonds with respect to the rest of the molecule. Thus, different molecules have specific spectra that can be collected for use in distinguishing products or identifying an unknown substance (to an extent.)
    • 4.3: Raman Spectroscopy
      Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for determining chemical species. As with other spectroscopic techniques, Raman spectroscopy detects certain interactions of light with matter. In particular, this technique exploits the existence of Stokes and Anti-Stokes scattering to examine molecular structure.
    • 4.4: UV-Visible Spectroscopy
      Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy is used to obtain the absorbance spectra of a compound in solution or as a solid. What is actually being observed spectroscopically is the absorbance of light energy or electromagnetic radiation, which excites electrons from the ground state to the first singlet excited state of the compound or material. The UV-vis region of energy for the electromagnetic spectrum covers 1.5 - 6.2 eV which relates to a wavelength range of 800 - 200 nm.
    • 4.5: Photoluminescence, Phosphorescence, and Fluorescence Spectroscopy
      Photoluminescence spectroscopy is a contactless, nondestructive method of probing the electronic structure of materials. Light is directed onto a sample, where it is absorbed and imparts excess energy into the material in a process called photo-excitation. One way this excess energy can be dissipated by the sample is through the emission of light, or luminescence. In the case of photo-excitation, this luminescence is called photoluminescence.
    • 4.6: Mössbauer Spectroscopy
      In 1957 Rudolf Mossbauer achieved the first experimental observation of the resonant absorption and recoil-free emission of nuclear γ-rays in solids during his graduate work at the Institute for Physics of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg Germany. Mossbauer received the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in resonant absorption of γ-radiation and the discovery of recoil-free emission a phenomenon that is named after him. The Mossbauer effect is the basis of Mo
    • 4.7: NMR Spectroscopy
      Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is a widely used and powerful method that takes advantage of the magnetic properties of certain nuclei. The basic principle behind NMR is that some nuclei exist in specific nuclear spin states when exposed to an external magnetic field.
    • 4.8: EPR Spectroscopy
      Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) is a powerful tool for investigating paramagnetic species, including organic radicals, inorganic radicals, and triplet states. The basic principles behind EPR are very similar to the more ubiquitous nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), except that EPR focuses on the interaction of an external magnetic field with the unpaired electron(s) in a molecule, rather than the nuclei of individual atoms.
    • 4.9: X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
      X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), also called electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), is a method used to determine the elemental composition of a material’s surface. It can be further applied to determine the chemical or electronic state of these elements.
    • 4.10: ESI-QTOF-MS Coupled to HPLC and its Application for Food Safety
      Mass spectrometry (MS) is a detection technique by measuring mass-to-charge ratio of ionic species. The procedure consists of different steps. First, a sample is injected in the instrument and then evaporated. Second, species in the sample are charged by certain ionized methods, such as electron ionization (EI), electrospray ionization (ESI), chemical ionization (CI), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).
    • 4.11: Mass Spectrometry
      Mass spectrometry (MS) is a powerful characterization technique used for the identification of a wide variety of chemical compounds. At its simplest, MS is merely a tool for determining the molecular weight of the chemical species in a sample. However, with the high resolution obtainable from modern machines, it is possible to distinguish isomers, isotopes, and even compounds with nominally identical molecular weights. Libraries of mass spectra have been compiled which allow rapid identification


    This page titled 4: Chemical Speciation is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Pavan M. V. Raja & Andrew R. Barron (OpenStax CNX) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.