APPLICATIONS OF RAMAN

SPECTROSCOPY

Presented by: Aamna Firdous

Two main techniques are applied in order to detect
molecular vibrational motions which are:
• Infrared spectroscopy(IR).
• Raman spectroscopy.
Raman Spectroscopy has its unique properties
which have been used very commonly and widely
in Inorganic, Organic, Biological systems etc.
IR is an absorption spectroscopy which measures
the transmitted light . Raman spectroscopy
measures the scattered light.
Raman spectroscopy has some advantages over
IR spectroscopy as follows:
1. Raman Spectroscopy can be used in aqueous solutions
(while water can absorb the infrared light strongly and
affect the IR spectrum).
2. Because of the different selection rules, vibrations
inactive in IR spectroscopy may be seen in Raman
spectroscopy.
3. There is no destruction to the sample in Raman
Spectroscopy. In IR spectroscopy, samples need to
disperse in transparent matrix. For example grind the
sample in solid KBr. In RS, no such destructions are
needed.
4. Glass vials can be used in Raman.
5. Raman Spectroscopy needs relative short time. So we
can do Raman Spectroscopy detection very quickly.
Basic Applications of Raman Spectroscopy
• Qualitative tool for identifying the molecules from
their vibrations.
• Quantitative Raman measurements (e.g Fabric
dyes studied at 30-50 ppb).
Application Fields
• Analytical applications(Inorganic/Organic
Chemistry)
• Pharmaceutical/biomedical(Food Analysis)
• Material Science/Nanotechnology
• Forensic/Anti-crime
• Geology/Mineralogy/Gemmology
• Archaeology/Art/Heritage
Raman Spectroscopy application in Inorganic systems

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is used to determine the

structure of solids in inorganic systems but it can
only be applied to solid state and some small
reactive molecules only exist in gas phase. Also,
XRD cannot distinguish between the following
bonds: –CN vs. –NC, –OCN vs. –NCO,–CNO vs. –
ONC, -SCN vs. –NCS. so Raman spectroscopy
can be used to determine the structure of
molecules.
Example
• In the study of Xenon Tetrafluoride. There are 3 strong
bands in IR and Raman shows 2 strong bands and 2
weaker bands. These information indicates that Xenon
Tetrafluoride is a planar molecule and has a symmetry of
D4h.
• Homo-nuclear diatomic molecules are all IR inactive and
always Raman Active.
• The Vibrational energies of metal-ligand bonds are
generally in range of 100 to 700 cm-1, which is difficult to
study in IR but easy in Raman.
• Studies of boric acid solutions show that the
anion formed by acid dissociation is the
tetrahedral B(OH)4- rather than H2BO3-.
• Dissociation constants for strong acids such as
HNO3, H2SO4 and H2SeO4 have been calculated
from Raman measurements.
• Metal-oxygen bonds are also Raman active.
Spectra for such species as VO34- , Al(OH)4- ,
Si(OH)62- have been obtained.
Raman Spectroscopy Application in Organic Systems

Qualitative analysis of organic compounds can be

done base on the characteristic vibrations table.
RS is similar to IR in that they have regions that
are useful for functional group detection and
fingerprint regions that permit the identification of
specific compounds.
• Olefinic Functional Group Information
The double-bond stretching vibration for olefins results in
weak and sometimes undetected IR absorption. On the
other hand, the Raman band (which like the IR band, occurs
at about 1600 cm -I) is intense, and its position is sensitive
to the nature of substituents as well as to their geometry.
• Estimation of ring size in paraffins
They have a characteristic Raman band in the region of 700
to 1200cm-1.This band has been attributed to a breathing
vibration in which the nuclei move in and out symmetrically
with respect to the center of the ring. The position of the
band decreases continuously from 1190 cm- for cyclo-
propane to 700 cm-I for cyclo-octane, Raman spectroscopy
thus appears to be an excellent diagnostic tool for the
estimation of ring size in paraffins.
Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)
Applications
One method to amplify weak Raman signals is to utilize
surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It is a
sensitive technique which offers orders of magnitude
increases in Raman intensity.
Enhancement factors can be as much as 103 to 1010 times
which are sufficient to detect even single molecule.
Using Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can
be a more promising choice for obtaining a faster detection
of COVID-19 than the PCR. PCR protocol amplifies the
single segment of DNA to 100 billion copies after 40
doubling cycles to provide sufficient intensities of
fluorescent signals for virus detection, which takes hours.
While SERS is using ramen scattering technique that
needs single molecule only by selecting the SERS laser on
it which gives us a high intensity signals that can be
analyzed within minutes as it doesn’t need any
amplification of the RNA or DNA. It is a portable device
permits testing for COVID-19 to be used widely in any
community, for instance in rural areas, schools, and work
facilities, by anyone.
Select a laser ray on a sample taken from a patient, use
the silver and gold nanoparticles as dye to coat the DNA
to produce signals, and finally analyze the signal to give
the Raman fingerprint of COVID-19’s DNA.
Raman Spectroscopy Applications in Archaelogoy
1. The Raman microprobe has played a critical role in the
authentication of some presumed ancient documents
such as the Vinland map. In the map, the presence of
TiO2, in the ink was shown by Raman microscopy.
2. Raman microscopy supported by X‐ray diffraction
(XRD) was used to detect traces of mineralogical
phases of volcanic origin and contaminations in red and
yellow pigments recovered from the archaeological site
of Pompeii after being buried for hundreds of years.
References
• Skoog Holler crouch - Principles of instrumental analysis
6th edition 2007.
• Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis
Volume 147, 5 January 2018, Pages 458-472.
• https://www.nature.com/subjects/raman-spectroscopy