Specular-Reflectance IR Spectroscopy of Polymethylmethacrylate Thin Films: An Experiment for the Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Course

TCE

The Chemical Educator

ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)

Table of Contents

Abstract Volume 3 Issue 3(1998), S1430-4171(98)03212-3

Specular-Reflectance IR Spectroscopy of Polymethylmethacrylate Thin Films: An Experiment for the Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Course

J. M. Buckles, J. C. Garay, D. J. Kaufman, A. R. Layson and M. R. Columbia*

Department of Chemistry, Indiana University-Purdue University Ft. Wayne, Ft. Wayne, IN 46805-1499

Published online: 1 June 1998

Abstract. The specular-reflectance technique has been used to develop an experiment for an undergraduate instrumental course that demonstrates the ability of Fourier transform IR spectroscopy to routinely procure vibrational spectra of thin films of polymethylmethacrylate on reflective copper discs. The experiment introduces students to the specular-reflectance technique and its selection rules, then demonstrates how they reveal the orientational constraint of adsorbed molecules within a thin film. Suggestions are included on how to expand the experiment to demonstrate the relationships between film thickness and the amount of light absorbed.

Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; IR spectroscopy; instrumental analysis

(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: Columbia@ipfw.edu)

Article in PDF format (329 KB )

Supporting Materials:

An application of Fourier-transform techniques (111 KB) 10.1007/s00897980212b