[Identification of Six Isomers of Dimethylbenzoic Acid by Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy Technique]

In this paper, the absorption spectra of 6 isomers of dimethylbenzoic acid, which were widely used in chemical and pharmaceutical production as intermediate substance, were measured by using the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system in the range 0.2-2.2 THz at room temperature. The experimental results show that the six measured isomers present apparent different spectral response. However, the results of using infrared spectroscopy indicates that different isomers show high similarity in absorption spectra in the range 1450-1700 cm⁻¹. The vibrational frequencies are calculated by using the density functional theory (DFT), and identification of vibrational modes are given. It is clear that the absorption peaks of the 6 isomers in the range 1450-1700 cm⁻¹ come from the stretching vibration of benzene ring and C==O, while the absorption peaks in the terahertz range are caused by the relative wagging of benzene ring and all the chains out of plane, which lead to the different absorption characteristics of the 6 isomers in the range 0.2-2.2 THz. The results suggest that the difference and similarity of the absorption spectra observed in the two different frequency range are resulted from the difference and similarity of the molecular structures of the six isomers. By using the different absorption characteristics, we can identify the six isomers of dimethylbenzoic acid effectively. Our study indicates that it is feasible to distinguish the isomers by using terahertz and infrared spectroscopy technique. It provides an effective way to identify different isomers and test the purity of the intermediate substance in the process of production quickly and accurately.