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Chapter 9
Qualitative and Quantitative FT-Raman
Analysis of Plants
Hartwig Schulz
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_9, © Springer Science+Business media dordrecht 2014
h. Schulz ()
Julius Kühn-Institute, Institute for Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Stored Product
Protection, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, 14195, Berlin, germany
e-mail: hartwig.Schulz@jki.bund.de
Abstract Raman spectroscopy has been found to be a reliable and non-destructive
method for rapid discrimination of different plant species or chemotypes if characteristic key bands can be observed in the spectrum. today, even portable Raman
spectrometers are available which only need sample amounts of a few microliters or
milligrams. In most cases, measurements can be performed directly on plant tissues
as well as on fractions isolated from the plant material by hydro-distillation or solvent extraction. generally, Raman spectroscopy allows obtaining spectra which may
present several characteristic key bands of individual plant components. very often
these bands provide very useful information about the chemical composition, including both primary and secondary metabolites occurring in the investigated samples.
Based on such markers, spectroscopic analyses in principle allow to discriminate different species, and even to classify chemotypes among the same species. the ability
to rapidly monitor various plant components makes it possible to efficiently select
high-quality single plants from wild populations as well as progenies of crossing
experiments. Furthermore, Raman spectroscopy can also be used by the processing
industry in order to perform fast quality checks of incoming raw materials as well
as continuous controlling of various production processes. Beside mS and NmR
measurements, Raman spectroscopy represents a very important analytical tool in
the field of plant metabolic fingerprinting providing an unbiased, global screening
approach to classify samples that change in response to the genetic background,
various plant diseases or influences by the environment (e.g. various stress effects).
Keywords Plant breeding • Plant cultivation • Metabolow analysis • Quality
control • Raman mapping • Raman imaging
9.1 Introduction
Within the past 20 years Raman spectroscopy has become increasing importance
in the field of plant analysis aiming to provide a fast and mostly non-destructive
classification of plant tissues but also to get new insights into biophysical and
Chapter 9
Qualitative and Quantitative FT-Raman
Analysis of Plants
Hartwig Schulz
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_9, © Springer Science+Business media dordrecht 2014
h. Schulz ()
Julius Kühn-Institute, Institute for Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Stored Product
Protection, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, 14195, Berlin, germany
e-mail: hartwig.Schulz@jki.bund.de
Abstract Raman spectroscopy has been found to be a reliable and non-destructive
method for rapid discrimination of different plant species or chemotypes if characteristic key bands can be observed in the spectrum. today, even portable Raman
spectrometers are available which only need sample amounts of a few microliters or
milligrams. In most cases, measurements can be performed directly on plant tissues
as well as on fractions isolated from the plant material by hydro-distillation or solvent extraction. generally, Raman spectroscopy allows obtaining spectra which may
present several characteristic key bands of individual plant components. very often
these bands provide very useful information about the chemical composition, including both primary and secondary metabolites occurring in the investigated samples.
Based on such markers, spectroscopic analyses in principle allow to discriminate different species, and even to classify chemotypes among the same species. the ability
to rapidly monitor various plant components makes it possible to efficiently select
high-quality single plants from wild populations as well as progenies of crossing
experiments. Furthermore, Raman spectroscopy can also be used by the processing
industry in order to perform fast quality checks of incoming raw materials as well
as continuous controlling of various production processes. Beside mS and NmR
measurements, Raman spectroscopy represents a very important analytical tool in
the field of plant metabolic fingerprinting providing an unbiased, global screening
approach to classify samples that change in response to the genetic background,
various plant diseases or influences by the environment (e.g. various stress effects).
Keywords Plant breeding • Plant cultivation • Metabolow analysis • Quality
control • Raman mapping • Raman imaging
9.1 Introduction
Within the past 20 years Raman spectroscopy has become increasing importance
in the field of plant analysis aiming to provide a fast and mostly non-destructive
classification of plant tissues but also to get new insights into biophysical and