Abstract

SPECTROSCOPIC METHODS OF ANALYSIS: RADIATION SOURCES AND APPLICATIONS

*Mbah, C.J.

Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Enugu State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

The importance of chemical or pharmaceutical methods of analysis for various applications in different areas of relevance to technological innovation is shown up at the hand of necessary developments in the methods of analysis. New developments in spectroscopic methods for the determination of inorganic and organic substances concentrations have helped to solve challenging analytical tasks. Spectroscopy, a general term that refers to the interactions of various types of electromagnetic radiations with matter can be categorized into atomic spectroscopy, ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electron spin spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. A concise review of radiation sources in spectroscopic methods of analysis was carried out. Some of the applications of spectroscopic methods in chemical or pharmaceutical analysis are also presented. Radiation source could be continuum source provided by hydrogen or deuterium discharge lamp and tungsten filament; line source provided by mercury and sodium vapor lamps; laser source provided by helium-neon laser or argon- krypton laser. As can be seen from the review presented, radiation sources are important tools in spectroscopy and spectroscopic methods have found a wide variety of applications in the fields of agriculture, biochemistry, clinical chemistry, environmental sciences (air, soil and water pollutions), geochemistry, industrial control processes, inorganic and organic chemistry and for regulation compliance.

Keywords: Spectroscopic methods, radiation sources, applications.