A novel systematic absence of cross peaks-based 2D-COS approach for bilinear data

Enhanced Spectral Resolution and Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopy (2D-COS)

The apparent enhancement of spectral resolution is one of the attractive features of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS). Highly overlapped adjacent bands often encountered in one-dimensional spectra may be effectively differentiated and identified by spreading peaks along the second dimension. This differentiating feature or selectivity is especially prominent in asynchronous spectra, where even a slight difference in the variation patterns of overlapped bands in response to a given perturbation results in the generation of cross-peaks. While cross-peaks in asynchronous spectra can identify signals originating from different moieties or bands, they do not effectively specify which regions of spectra actually share the same molecular origin. Overreliance on asynchronous spectra alone risks the potential false negative assessment or lack of sufficient specificity, leading to the failure of classifying signals into a reasonable set of component groups. The combined use of synchronous and asynchronous spectra coupled with the scaling techniques, elimination of anti-correlated negative synchronous peaks, and a robust line shape narrowing method provides a means to achieve both selectivity and specificity for resolution-enhancement of 2D-COS.

A new apparatus and the relevant method to retrieve IR spectra of solutes from the corresponding aqueous solutions

An apparatus and relevant approach to obtaining IR spectra of solutes from the corresponding aqueous solution were developed. In the experiment, aqueous solutions were converted into aerosols using an ultrasonic or a pneumatic device. Subsequently, water in the nebulized solution is completely gasified under a high-speed flow and low vacuum environment. Via this process, the aqueous solution changes into a mixture of a solute or solutes and gaseous water, whose single-beam IR spectra are collected. Then, the newly developed RMF (retrieving moisture-free IR spectrum) method and the relevant approach described in our recent papers have been adopted to treat the resultant single-beam sample spectrum. As a result, the spectral contribution of the vibrational-rotational peaks of gaseous water can be removed or significantly attenuated, and IR spectra of solutes can be obtained. The approach shows an obvious advantage in retrieving the IR spectrum of volatile solutes from its aqueous solution. This capability is showcased by obtaining IR spectra of isopropanol and ethyl acetate successfully. IR spectra of these compounds can be retrieved even if the concentration of the solute is below 10 wt%. Moreover, atomization via ultrasonic/pneumatic methods offers a mild way to gasify solutes whose boiling points are remarkably higher than that of water. This advantage is manifested by acquiring IR spectra of 1-butanol and 1,2-propanediol in the gaseous phase under ambient conditions.

A new approach to recognizing the correct pattern of cross-peaks from a noisy 2D asynchronous spectrum by detecting intrinsic symmetry via the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test

The characteristic cluster pattern of cross-peaks in a 2D asynchronous spectrum provides an effective way to reveal the specific physicochemical nature of subtle spectral changes caused by intermolecular interactions. However, the inevitable presence of noise in the 1D spectra used to construct a 2D asynchronous spectrum is significantly amplified, which poses a serious challenge in identifying the correct cluster pattern of the cross-peaks. While mirror symmetry occurs in some types of cross-peaks, it does not occur in other types. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test provides a statistical means to check whether the mirror symmetry exists or not between a pair of cross-peaks covered by heavy noise. Thus, different types of cross-peak clusters can be distinguished by excavating intrinsic spectral features from the noisy 2D asynchronous spectrum. The effectiveness of this approach in investigating the nature of intermolecular interactions was showcased in both a simulated model system and a real artemisinin/N-methyl pyrrolidone system.

Comprehensive modified approaches to reducing the interference of moisture from an FTIR spectrum and the corresponding second derivative spectrum

We proposed a modified and improved approach to removing the interference of moisture from an IR spectrum and the corresponding second derivative spectrum. The temperature fluctuation in the air of the optical path and baseline-drift lead to the small but persistent presence of the interference of moisture. The problem has been successfully addressed by adopting a double-matching strategy. Additionally, two-dimensional correlationspectra (2D-COS) are generated using the second derivative or third derivative spectrum of the negative base 10 logarithms of the single-beam spectra, thereby removing the linear slope or quadratic portion of baseline-drift. Using the newly adopted approach, the residual interferences of moisture are attenuated. We applied the new approach to the IR spectra and the second derivative spectra of neat hexadecanol and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film, and some promising preliminary results are obtained. In hexadecanol, two highly overlapping peaks at 1464 and 1463 cm^-1 are revealed. In BOPP, the envelope at 1458 cm^-1 is found to be composed of a number of sub-peaks.

Continuing progress in the field of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS), part II. Recent noteworthy developments

This comprehensive survey review compiles noteworthy developments and new concepts of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) for the last two years. It covers review articles, books, proceedings, and numerous research papers published on 2D-COS, as well as patent and publication trends. 2D-COS continues to evolve and grow with new significant developments and versatile applications in diverse scientific fields. The healthy, vigorous, and diverse progress of 2D-COS studies in many fields strongly confirms that it is well accepted as a powerful analytical technique to provide an in-depth understanding of systems of interest.

Continuing progress in the field of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS), part I. Yesterday and today

This comprehensive survey review, as the first of three parts, compiles past developments and early concepts of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) and subsequent evolution, as well as its early applications in various fields for the last 35 years. It covers past review articles, books, proceedings, and numerous research papers published on 2D-COS. 2D-COS continues to evolve and grow with new significant developments and versatile applications in diverse scientific fields. The healthy, vigorous, and diverse progress of 2D-COS studies in many fields confirms that it is well accepted as a powerful analytical technique to provide the in-depth understanding of systems of interest.

Retrieving Spectra of Pure Components from the DOSY-NMR Experiment via a Comprehensive Approach Involving the 2D Asynchronous Spectrum, 2D Quotient Spectrum, and Genetic Algorithm Refinement

When diffusion coefficients of different components in a mixture are similar, NMR spectra of pure individual components are difficult to be obtained via a diffusion-ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) experiment. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) is used to analyze the data from the DOSY experiment. Through the properties of the systematic absence of cross-peak (SACP) in the 2D asynchronous spectra, spectra of pure components can be obtained even if their diffusion coefficients are similar. However, fluctuations in peak-position and peak-width are often unavoidable in NMR spectra, which makes SACPs unrecognizable. To address the problem, a 2D quotient spectrum is used to identify the masked SACPs. However, undesirable interference peaks due to the fluctuations in peak-position and peak-width are still present when we extract a spectrum of a component by slicing the 2D asynchronous spectrum across the SACP. A genetic algorithm (GA) is used to select a suitable subset of spectra where the diversities of peak-position and peak-width are significantly reduced. Then, we used the selected spectra to construct a refined 2D asynchronous spectrum so that the spectra of pure components with significant attenuated interference can be obtained. The above approach has been proven to be effective on a model system and a real-world example, demonstrating that 2D-COS possesses a bright perspective in the analysis of the bilinear data from DOSY experiments.

Exploration of compressive sensing in the classification of frozen fish based on two-dimensional correlation spectrum

In order to classify imported frozen fish, effectively a spectral data compression method was presented based on two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy. In the experiment, the near-infrared spectral data of Oncorhynchus keta, Oncorhynchus nerka and Oncorhynchus gorbuscha of Salmonidae were collected. And two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy among the three fish samples was constructed. The study found that the auto-correlation peaks intensities at 650 nm, 1724 nm and 1908 nm were almost zero, which were taken as the separation point of the spectra. Therefore, each spectral data is divided into 4 segments and the integral of each segment is obtained. The original spectra of 201 points in each group were compressed into 4 points. Then, the compressed spectral data were input into the support vector machine to establish the discriminant model of three kinds of frozen fish. At the same time, the Competitive Adaptive Reweighted Sampling and the Successive Projections Algorithm were used to screen the original spectra. The classification results were compared with the result of the spectral data compression method of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy. The result shows: the compression rate of the proposed method is 98.01%; the accuracy rate of support vector machine training set is 100%; the accuracy rate of validation set is up to 100%. The results shows that the proposed spectral data compression method based on two-dimensional correlation spectral technology has high compression rate and accurate classification.

Random swapping, an effective and efficient way to boost the intensities of cross peaks in a 2D asynchronous spectrum

Analysis of mixture via chromatographic-spectroscopic and analogous experiments is a common task in analytical chemistry. A 2D/nD asynchronous spectrum is effective in retrieving spectra of pure substances even if different components cannot be separated. However, noise in the 2D/nD asynchronous spectrum becomes a bottleneck in the analysis. Finding a suitable sequence of the 1D spectra used in constructing the 2D/nD asynchronous spectrum is helpful to improve the signal-to-noise level. A 2D/nD asynchronous spectrum is often produced via a large number of 1D spectra. The resultant colossal number of the possible sequences makes stochastic search the only possible way to find a suitable sequence. Random changing (RC) and random swapping (RS) are two ways to obtain a new sequence. We found that the possibility of finding a better sequence via an RS is significantly higher than that via an RC in the advanced stage of stochastic searching. This is the reason why the performance of RS is superior to that of RC in two model systems where 2D asynchronous spectra are used. We applied the RS approach on the analysis of water/isopropanol mixtures, and satisfactory sequences are acquired with affordable computational cost. Thus, the RS approach brings about an opportunity increase the signal-to-noise level of a 2D asynchronous spectrum in the analysis of the bilinear data from complex mixed samples.

A new approach to removing interference of moisture from FTIR spectrum

An approach is developed to remove the interference of moisture from FTIR spectra. The interference arises from two aspects: the fluctuation on the temperature of the HeNe laser and the fluctuation on the transient concentration of moisture in the light - path of an FTIR spectrometer. The temperature fluctuation on the HeNe laser produces a systematic spectral shift between single-beam sample and background spectra, which often makes spectral subtraction method invalid in removing the interference of moisture. Herein, the Carbo similarity metric (the C_AB value) is used to reflect the subtle spectral shift. A database of single-beam background spectra is established based on the concept of big-data and the pigeon-hole theory. The spectral shift is corrected by selecting suitable single-beam background spectra from the database to match with the given single-beam sample spectrum according to the C_AB value. The interference caused by the fluctuation of the transient concentration of moisture is removed using a comprehensive 2D-COS method. We apply the approach on two polymeric samples to retrieve high-quality spectra and reliable second derivative spectra without the interference of moisture. The present work provides a new opportunity of obtaining the reliable second derivative spectra in the spectral region masked by moisture.

Distinguishing Resonant from Non-Resonant Nonlinear Optical Processes Using Intensity-Intensity Correlation Analyses

Three-color coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) represents non-degenerate four wave mixing that includes both non-resonant and resonant processes, the contributions of which depend upon how the molecular vibrational modes are being excited by the input laser pulses. The scattering signal due to resonant processes builds up progressively. An advanced analytical tool to reveal this deferred resonant signal buildup phenomenon is in need. In this work, we adapt a quantitative analytical tool by introducing one-dimensional and two-dimensional intensity-intensity correlation functions in terms of a new variable (probe pulse delay) and a new perturbation parameter (probe pulse linewidth). In particular, discrete diagonal directional sums are defined here as a tool to reduce both synchronous and asynchronous two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) maps down to one-dimensional plots while maintaining the valuable analytical information. Detailed analyses using the all-Gaussian coherent Raman scattering closed-form solutions and the representative experimental data for resonant and non-resonant processes are presented and compared. The present work holds a promising potential for industrial application, e.g., by extractive industries to distinguish hydrocarbons (chemically resonant substance) from water (non-resonant contaminant) by utilizing the one- and two-dimensional correlation analyses.

Multivariate curve resolution combined with estimation by cosine similarity mapping of analytical data

We developed a multivariate curve resolution (MCR) calculation combined with the mapping of cosine similarity (cos-s) for estimating multiple mixture spectra of chemicals. The cos-s map was obtained by calculating the similarities of the variation of the signal intensities at each scanning parameter, such as the wavelength. The cos-s map was utilized for the initial estimation of the spectra of pure chemicals and also for the restriction of the iterative least-squares calculation of the MCR. These calculations were performed without arbitrary parameters by introducing soft clustering to the cos-s map. The chemically meaningful initial estimation could prevent the convergence at an incorrect local minimum, which frequently happens for the wrong initial estimation of spectra far away from the real answer. Herein, we demonstrated the robustness of this calculation method by applying it for UV/Vis spectra and XRD patterns of multiple unknown chemical mixtures, whose shapes were totally different (broad overlapped peaks and multiple complicated peaks). Pure spectra/patterns were recovered as >84% consistency with the reference spectra, and <6% accuracy of the concentration ratios was demonstrated.

Intensity Enhancement of a Two-Dimensional Asynchronous Spectrum Without Noise Level Fluctuation Escalation Using a One-Dimensional Spectra Sequence Change

Previously, we demonstrated that the intensities of cross-peaks in a two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum could be enhanced using sequence change of the corresponding one-dimensional spectra. This unusual approach becomes useful when the determination of the sequential order of physicochemical events is not essential. However, it was not known whether the level of noise in the two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum was also escalated as the sequence of one-dimensional spectra changed. We first investigated the noise behavior in a two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum upon changing the sequence of the corresponding one-dimensional spectra on a model system. In the model system, bilinear data from a chromatographic-spectroscopic experiment on a mixture containing two components were analyzed using a two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum. The computer simulation results confirm that the cross-peak intensities in the resultant a two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum were indeed enhanced by more than 100 times as the sequence of one-dimensional spectra changed, whereas the fluctuation level of noise, reflected by the standard deviation of the value of a two-dimensional asynchronous spectrum at a given point, was almost invariant. Further analysis on the model system demonstrated that the special mathematical property of the Hilbert-Noda matrix (the modules of all column vectors of the Hilbert-Noda matrix being a near constant) accounts for the moderate variation of the noise level during the changes of the sequence of one-dimensional spectra. Next, a realistic example from a thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy experiment with added artificial noise in seven one-dimensional spectra was studied. As we altered the sequence of the seven FT-IR spectra, the variation of the cross-peak intensities covered four orders of magnitude in the two-dimensional asynchronous spectra. In contrast, the fluctuation of noise in the two-dimensional asynchronous spectra was within two times. The above results clearly demonstrate that a change in the sequence of one-dimensional spectra is an effective way to improve the signal-to-noise level of the two-dimensional asynchronous spectra.

Identification of systematic absence of cross-peaks (SACPs) in a two-dimensional asynchronous Spectrum using an auxiliary 2D quotient Spectrum and a statistical test

Systematic Absence of Cross Peaks (SACPs) in a two-dimensional (2D) asynchronous spectrum, a sensitive indicator of the signal purity, is very important in analyzing bilinear data. However, identification of SACPs in practice remains a challenge because of noise in the corresponding 2D asynchronous spectrum. We firstly show that SACP can be identified via a statistical test using a large amount of 2D asynchronous spectra. To meet the practical demand that SACPs must be identified based on a single 2D asynchronous spectrum in many cases, we use a 2D quotient spectrum (Q (x, y)) as an effective auxiliary tool to recognize SACPs. The expectation of Q(x, y) is zero when (x, y) is within SACP or background regions in the corresponding 2D asynchronous spectrum. When (x, y) is in a cross-peak region, the expectation of the absolute value of Q(x, y) is a constant regardless of whether the cross-peak in a 2D asynchronous spectrum is strong or weak. Thus, a unified threshold can be set up to differentiate the SACP region from cross-peak region via the auxiliary 2D quotient spectrum. We have applied this approach on two real-world examples and satisfactory results have been obtained. This result demonstrates that the statistical test with a 2D quotient spectrum is applicable in real-world systems.

Application of two-dimensional correlation fluorescence spectroscopy to detect the presence of trace amount of substances

Although fluorescence spectroscopy is a highly sensitive method, it is still rather difficult to identify a minor fluorescent component whose fluorescent peak is overlapped and masked by a dominant fluorescent component in a sample solution. Herein, we describe a two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) approach based on the Kasha's rule to solve the above common problem. We initially suppose that a sample solution contains the major component only, and the spectral behavior of the major component obeys the Kasha's rule. Then, the shapes of emission spectra obtained under excitation lights of different wavelengths remain invariant. Under this condition, the introduction of a minor fluorescent component can be reflected by the changes on the shapes of emission peaks in the series of emission spectra. Moreover, subtle changes, which are difficult to be found in the original spectra, can be clearly visualized as cross peaks in 2D asynchronous spectrum constructed using a series of emission spectra. In addition, we demonstrate that the intensities of cross peaks can be enhanced by changing the sequence of the series of emission spectra. We utilize the approach on an aqueous solution containing eosin Y and a trace amount of bromocresol green. The presence of bromocresol green with the concentration as low as 400 nM can be revealed via the cross peaks in the resultant 2D asynchronous spectra. In a preliminary study, we suggest that 2D disrelation spectrum might provide an alternative chance to reveal the presence of small amount bromocresol green.