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2025 and 2026 Courses

A 2025 course is to be held at the Wiley Corporation in Hoboken, NJ, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan

A 2026 course has been booked at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland

Hoboken, New Jersey

Interpretation of Infrared and Raman Spectra

22-26 September, 2025

Glasgow, Scotland
UK

Interpretation of Infrared and Raman Spectra

10-14 July, 2026

Vibrational Spectroscopy

  • Vibrational Spectroscopy is a cost effective and powerful technique for chemical structure elucidation
  • Samples include organic and inorganic molecules and ion, polymers, minerals, pharmaceuticals, biologicals, and forensics
  • Interpretation leads to the presence or absence of functional groups that are the building blocks of chemical structure
  • Interpretation is a vital skill for anyone who employs infrared or Raman spectroscopy

Why Interpret Vibrational Spectra?

  • There are more chemical compounds than are available in search libraries
  • If a search does not have an exact match, spectral interpretation can identify an unknown 
  • The correct identification of a sample can generate income for an employer, or become irrefutable evidence for a legal issue
  • Conversely, incorrect identifications of samples can be extremely costly
  • Spectral interpretation skills allow spectroscopists to evaluate spectra critically 

Interpretation Courses

  • These are four-and-a half-day courses with both lecture and exercise sessions. 
  • There are brief introductory lectures on the theory of infrared and Raman spectroscopy. 
  • The bulk of the lectures involve specific functional groups and how they are identified in spectra. 
  • There are three exercise sessions in which participants are given unknown spectra and are asked to determine the structures of the unknown samples. 
  • Extensive lecture notes, a separate set of exercise spectra, and exercise answers are provided.

Course Synopsis

  • The course is designed to present a strategy to determine chemical structure from both infrared and Raman spectra.
  • The procedure to interpret vibrational spectra has been developed and refined  over the many years the course has been in existence
  • Participants master how to interpret spectra in a “learn by doing” environment.
  • The goal is to make correct band assignments with the use of multiple spectral bands and features to determine correct or informative chemical structures.