Solid state and solution nitrate photochemistry: photochemical evolution of the solid state lattice.

We examined the deep UV 229 nm photochemistry of NaNO(3) in solution and in the solid state. In aqueous solution excitation within the deep UV NO(3)¯ strong π → π* transition causes the photochemical reaction NO(3)¯ → NO(2)¯ + O·. We used UV resonance Raman spectroscopy to examine the photon dose dependence of the NO(2)¯ band intensities and measure a photochemical quantum yield of 0.

Deep ultraviolet resonance Raman excitation enables explosives detection.

We measured the 229 nm absolute ultraviolet (UV) Raman cross-sections of the explosives trinitrotoluene (TNT), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (RDX), the chemically related nitroamine explosive HMX, and ammonium nitrate in solution. The 229 nm Raman cross-sections are 1000-fold greater than those excited in the near-infrared and visible spectral regions. Deep UV resonance Raman spectroscopy enables detection of explosives at parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations and may prove useful for stand-off spectroscopic detection of explosives.

Raman detected differential scanning calorimetry of polymorphic transformations in acetaminophen.

Acetaminophen is known to crystallize in three polymorphic forms. Thermally induced transformations between the crystalline forms and the super-cooled liquid have been observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), but the assignment of calorimetric transitions to specific polymorphic transformations remains challenging, because the transition temperatures for several transformations are close to one another, and the characteristics of the observed transitions depend on experimental variables that are often poorly controlled. This paper demonstrates the simultaneous application of DSC and Raman microscopy for the observation of thermally driven transitions between polymorphs of pharmaceutical materials.