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Chapter 1
General Overview on Vibrational Spectroscopy
Applied in Biology and Medicine
Malgorzata Baranska, Maciej Roman and Katarzyna Majzner
m. Baranska (ed.), Optical Spectroscopy and Computational Methods in Biology and
Medicine, Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 14,
doI 10.1007/978-94-007-7832-0_1, © Springer Science+Business media dordrecht 2014
m. Baranska () · m. Roman · K. majzner
Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian university, Ingardena 3,
30-060, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: baranska@chemia.uj.edu.pl
Abstract this chapter contains a short introduction to vibrational spectroscopy
followed by an overview on its biological and biomedical applications. the spectroscopic techniques discussed in the book and their special advantages are briefly
listed, i.e. Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), Raman optical Activity (RoA), vibrational Circular dichroism (vCd), Electronic Circular dichroism
(ECd) and matrix isolation.
the potential of vibrational spectroscopy is demonstrated by the current state
of the art in secondary and primary plant components analysis performed in the
tissue and from the single cells. Both Raman and IR spectroscopy are shown as
powerful tools in medical diagnosis, cytology and histopathology. A brief overview on biomedical vibrational spectroscopy used to investigate lifestyle diseases
is provided.
Keywords Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) • Raman Optical
Activity (ROA) • Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD) • Electronic Circular
Dichroism (ECD) • Matrix isolation • Biological and biomedical application
1.1 Vibrational Spectroscopy Methods
Infrared and Raman spectroscopy are among the most widely used techniques in
natural sciences. this is due to the fact that vibrational spectroscopy can be applied
not only for samples in milligram quantities but microsampling and trace analysis
is nowadays done routinely, and measurements take from minutes to fractions of
seconds.
the selection rules, which formally constrains the possible transitions of a molecular system, are different for IR and Raman spectroscopy. the classical theory
Chapter 1
General Overview on Vibrational Spectroscopy
Applied in Biology and Medicine
Malgorzata Baranska, Maciej Roman and Katarzyna Majzner
m. Baranska (ed.), Optical Spectroscopy and Computational Methods in Biology and
Medicine, Challenges and Advances in Computational Chemistry and Physics 14,
doI 10.1007/978-94-007-7832-0_1, © Springer Science+Business media dordrecht 2014
m. Baranska () · m. Roman · K. majzner
Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian university, Ingardena 3,
30-060, Krakow, Poland
e-mail: baranska@chemia.uj.edu.pl
Abstract this chapter contains a short introduction to vibrational spectroscopy
followed by an overview on its biological and biomedical applications. the spectroscopic techniques discussed in the book and their special advantages are briefly
listed, i.e. Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), Raman optical Activity (RoA), vibrational Circular dichroism (vCd), Electronic Circular dichroism
(ECd) and matrix isolation.
the potential of vibrational spectroscopy is demonstrated by the current state
of the art in secondary and primary plant components analysis performed in the
tissue and from the single cells. Both Raman and IR spectroscopy are shown as
powerful tools in medical diagnosis, cytology and histopathology. A brief overview on biomedical vibrational spectroscopy used to investigate lifestyle diseases
is provided.
Keywords Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) • Raman Optical
Activity (ROA) • Vibrational Circular Dichroism (VCD) • Electronic Circular
Dichroism (ECD) • Matrix isolation • Biological and biomedical application
1.1 Vibrational Spectroscopy Methods
Infrared and Raman spectroscopy are among the most widely used techniques in
natural sciences. this is due to the fact that vibrational spectroscopy can be applied
not only for samples in milligram quantities but microsampling and trace analysis
is nowadays done routinely, and measurements take from minutes to fractions of
seconds.
the selection rules, which formally constrains the possible transitions of a molecular system, are different for IR and Raman spectroscopy. the classical theory