Background Correction in Raman Spectroscopic Determination of Dimethylsulfone, Sulfate, and Bisulfate

A study has been made to compare the effectiveness of thirteen methods of spectroscopic background correction in quantitative measurements. These include digital filters, least-squares fitting, and cross-correlation, as well as peak area and height measurements. Simulated data sets with varying S/N and degrees of background curvature were used. The results were compared with the results of corresponding treatments of Raman spectra of dimethyl sulfone, sulfate, and bisulfate. The range of variation of the simulated sets was greater than was possible with the experimental data, but where conditions were comparable, the agreement between them was good. This supports the conclusion that the simulations were valid. Best results were obtained by a least-squares fit with the use of simple polynomials to generate the background correction. Under the conditions employed, limits of detection were about 80 ppm for dimethyl sulfone and sulfate and 420 ppm for bisulfate.