Spectroscopy E-Books
A rapid, high-throughput analytical method was developed and evaluated for the simultaneous determination of pesticides and environmental contaminants in fish. The compounds included polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and flame retardants. The method was based on a QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) technique with acetonitrile extraction, and a dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE) cleanup. Three sorbent combinations were compared for cleanup efficiency and recoveries of the contaminants: C18+PSA, traditionally used for lipid removal in dSPE, and two novel sorbents, based on silica coated with zirconium dioxide (ZrO2 ) and ZrO2 /C18, designed for phospholipid removal. The dSPE cleanup with ZrO2 sorbent provided the highest efficiency with the lowest baseline, as well as satisfactory recoveries (70–120% calculated based on isotope-labeled internal standards) for the most analytes. The method allows for quick sample preparation of fish samples for the analysis of almost 200 targeted contaminants using fast, lowpressure gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS-MS), thus providing a wide scope of analysis.
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Improving Fluorescence and Raman Techniques for Environmental Microplastic Analysis
March 31st 2025A recent study conducted at the LaserLaB Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands) explored spectroscopic imaging techniques, including Raman and fluorescence microscopy, for characterizing microplastics (MPs), focusing on optimizing sample preparation, particularly density separation, and Nile Red staining.Spectroscopy spoke to Merel Konings, corresponding author of the paper resulting from the study, about her work
New Study Provides Insights into Chiral Smectic Phases
March 31st 2025Researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences have unveiled new insights into the molecular arrangement of the 7HH6 compound’s smectic phases using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy.