Quality Data from Messy Spectra: How Isometric Points Increase Information Content in Highly Overlapping Spectra
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2025

Proton Transfer and Protein Conformation Dynamics in Photosensitive Proteins by Time-resolved Step-scan Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Published on: June 27, 2014
Felix Kaspar1,2
1Institute for Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Spielmannstraße 7, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany.
Abstract:
Spectroscopic techniques are immensely useful for obtaining information about chemical transformations while they are happening. However, such data are often messy, and it is challenging to extract reliable information from them without careful calibrations or internal standards. This short introductory review discusses how isometric points (points in a spectrum where the signal intensity remains constant throughout the progress of a chemical transformation) can be used to derive high-quality data from messy spectra. Such analyses are helpful in a variety of (bio-)chemical settings, as selected case studies demonstrate.
Related Concept Videos
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are...
¹³C NMR: Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT)
Mass Spectrum: Interpretation
To...
Mass Spectrometry: Complex Analysis
GC–MS is a powerful hyphenated method commonly used in forensics and environmental...
NMR Spectrometers: Resolution and Error Correction
UV–Vis Spectroscopy: Woodward–Fieser Rules

