The inspiration for this volume lies in Edisbury's Practical Hints for Absorption Spectrometry which was published 17 years ago. Dr Edisbury was a founding member of the Photoelectric Spectrometry Group, served as its first Secretary and edited the Bulletin for many years. His wisdom, humour and pragmatism was evident in early meetings of the Group and in the first issues of the Bulletin, and these qualities were distilled in the writing of Practical Hints. In 1977, the Committee of the Group, which by then had been re-named The UV Spectrometry Group, decided to make use of the expertise available amongst the members of the Group in writing some monographs on the practice of UV and visible spectrometry. Working parties were set up which formulated and produced the first two volumes of the series on Standards in Absorption Spectrometry and Standards in Fluorescence Spectrometry. The success of these volumes lead the present Committee of the Group to set up a new Working Party in 1981 to plan a modern version of Edisbury's book. The idea really caught fire' at the first meeting of the Working Party, when ideas sufficient to fill ten vol umes were put forward. We would not pretend to emulate Edisbury's unique style, but hoped to produce a readable book for the newcomer to UV -visible absorption spectrometry, and perhaps to improve the technique of more experienced users.

Inhalt

1 Absorption spectrometry.- 1.1 Absorption spectrometry in the ultraviolet and visible regions.- 1.2 The ultraviolet and visible spectrum.- 1.3 The absorption of radiation.- 1.4 Molecular structure and absorption spectra.- 1.5 Quantitative absorption spectrometry.- 1.6 Measurement of absorption spectra.- References.- 2 Spectrometer design.- 2.1 Types of instrument.- 2.2 Basic arrangement of optical components.- 2.3 Single- and double-beam instruments.- References.- 3 Light sources and optical components.- 3.1 Sources for the UV region.- 3.2 Sources for the visible region.- 3.3 New sources.- 3.4 Lenses and mirrors.- References.- 4 Monochromators.- 4.1 Prisms.- 4.2 Gratings.- 4.3 Monochromator design.- 4.4 Double monochromators.- 4.5 Second-order and stray-light filters.- 4.6 Slits and slit mechanisms.- 4.7 Bandwidth.- 4.8 Monochromator drive mechanisms.- 4.9 Filter instruments.- References.- 5 Detectors.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Vacuum tube detectors.- 5.3 Solid-state detectors.- 5.4 Summary.- 6 Instrument signal processing.- 6.1 Amplifiers.- 6.2 Single-beam instruments.- 6.3 Double-beam instruments.- 6.4 Microprocessor-based instruments.- 6.5 Recorders.- 6.6 Updating early instruments.- References.- 7 Interfacing techniques.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 The IEEE488 interface.- 7.3 The serial interface.- 7.4 The BCD interface.- 7.5 Conclusions.- References.- 8 Cells and cell holders.- 8.1 Types of cell.- 8.2 Choice of a cell.- 8.3 Cell holders and sample compartments.- References.- 9 Measuring the spectrum.- 9.1 Choice of solvent.- 9.2 Making a solution.- 9.3 The cell.- 9.4 Making the measurement.- 9.5 Problems and pitfalls.- 9.6 Cell cleaning.- 9.7 Accuracy and precision in absorbance measurement.- 9.8 Difficult samples.- References.- 10 Numerical methods of data analysis.- 10.1 Baseline corrections.- 10.2 Data smoothing.- 10.3 Multicomponent analysis.- 10.4 Matrix rank analysis.- 10.5 Spectral stripping and related techniques.- References.- 11 Special techniques.- 11.1 Derivative spectroscopy.- 11.2 Difference spectroscopy.- 11.3 Dual-wavelength spectroscopy.- 11.4 Densitometry.- References.- 12 Automated sample handling.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Air-segmented continuous-flow systems.- 12.3 Flow injection analysis.- 12.4 Other CF techniques.- References.- 13 The maintenance of instruments.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Environmental and safety considerations.- 13.3 Routine checks.- 13.4 Simple fault finding.- 13.5 Cleaning optical components and lamps.- References.- Appendices A. Knowles and M. A. Russell.- A1 Solvent characteristics.- A2 Transmission of window materials.- A3 Wavelength standards.