Criteria for Presentation of Spectra from Computerized IR Instruments

With the development of sophisticated data systems for dispersive and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometers, users of these instruments have capabilities at their fingertips which were not available to infrared spectroscopists a few years ago. Although computers permit more advanced experiments to be performed using an infrared spectrometer, they also increase the need for detailed communication of exactly how spectra were measured and subsequently manipulated. Using a computerized infrared spectrophotometer, a competent spectroscopist can obtain an enormous quantity of information on his sample through such operations as spectral subtraction, but these new capabilities can also occasionally lead to the generation of unexpected artifacts in computer-manipulated spectra. In an attempt to guard against problems of this type and to allow better interlaboratory reproducibility, a subcommittee of the Coblentz Society was set up to recommend the type of information which should be included with published spectra.