Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Cheap IR and Raman measurements

Hegi - 3-9-2018 at 00:39

Hi guys,

recently I got access to Infrared and Raman spectrophotometers (Thermo Scientific) at my company. If anyone is interested in using my services I am able to measure you spectra of the solid and also liquid samples for minimum fees.

The IR spectrometer is working in the range 4000-650 cm-1 (ATR technique). The amount needed for measurement is roughly few miligrams to cover the diamond holder.

The Raman excitation wavelength is 532 nm. The spectrophotometer is portable and is primarily designed for bigger samples but small vial (2-3 mL) of your sample or 100 mg is enough.

If needed I can send you the samples back. The measurement time will be set up to reach the high quality of spectra. If you are interested, please feel free to contact me via U2U.

EDIT: I am located in the Czech republic. The shipping cost from Europe is almost nothing whereas up to my knowledge small samples from the USA should be affordable as well.

The price depends on number of samples and your specific request.



[Edited on 3-9-2018 by Hegi]

j_sum1 - 3-9-2018 at 00:44

This is a wonderful offer, Hegi. I am sure there will be some here who follow up on this.

You might want to edit and put your location in the OP so that members have some notion of shipping and turnaround times.

If this is an ongoing thing and well used by members then it can probably become a sticky.

Hegi - 3-9-2018 at 01:36

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
This is a wonderful offer, Hegi. I am sure there will be some here who follow up on this.

You might want to edit and put your location in the OP so that members have some notion of shipping and turnaround times.

If this is an ongoing thing and well used by members then it can probably become a sticky.


j_sum1, thanks for your support and suggestion. I edited the original post. I really know how hard it was for me several years ago to characterize compounds I prepared at home. As long as I am not very busy at the workplace, I can measure samples right after their arrival and electronically send data to users.

DavidJR - 3-9-2018 at 01:58

Interesting... might help to give an example of cost.

Now that I have HPLC in my garage I would also consider doing something like this.

Hegi - 3-9-2018 at 03:31

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR  
Interesting... might help to give an example of cost.

Now that I have HPLC in my garage I would also consider doing something like this.


I strongly suggest it to you. You may help many people and earn some money yourself to run the machine.

Considering all aspects (manipulation with sample, measurement, machine running costs) I think it would be reasonable to start at 5$ per sample. Of course, with the increasing number of samples the price will rapidly fall down.

Let´s say for 5 samples you would only be charged 20$ instead of 25, for 10 and more samples 3$ per sample... as most probably ten samples will arrive together and I will not be forced to visit the post office 10 times.. and start machine ten times..

Loptr - 3-9-2018 at 06:26

What are the legal ramifications if someone sends you an illegal drug? I am asking about for yourselves.

Hegi - 3-9-2018 at 08:11

Quote: Originally posted by Loptr  
What are the legal ramifications if someone sends you an illegal drug? I am asking about for yourselves.


I don´t care about substance itself if it is delivered in such a small amount. I will measure and send data. If requested I can match it with database or identify functional groups. By the way, it is prohibited to store even potassium permanganate at home in many countries...

DavidJR - 3-9-2018 at 08:35

Quote: Originally posted by Hegi  
Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR  
Interesting... might help to give an example of cost.

Now that I have HPLC in my garage I would also consider doing something like this.


I strongly suggest it to you. You may help many people and earn some money yourself to run the machine.

Considering all aspects (manipulation with sample, measurement, machine running costs) I think it would be reasonable to start at 5$ per sample. Of course, with the increasing number of samples the price will rapidly fall down.

Let´s say for 5 samples you would only be charged 20$ instead of 25, for 10 and more samples 3$ per sample... as most probably ten samples will arrive together and I will not be forced to visit the post office 10 times.. and start machine ten times..


That's very reasonable I think.



Re HPLC:

I think that would be a bit trickier since the chromatogram of a sample can change dramatically depending on the conditions, so would possibly require several runs to get a good result. If there was an already known/published HPLC method then that would be useful. I would also need to consider the cost of consumables (solvents, autosampler vials, syringes, filters, etc).

However if anyone (UK/EU easiest) here has some samples they'd like me to run I'm happy to discuss that. I only have reverse phase C18 columns currently. It'd be most useful if you had a few related samples to run under the same conditions to compare (for example, the starting materials individually as well as the product of a synthesis).

RogueRose - 3-9-2018 at 11:01

Could you maybe explain what would be expected from a Raman spec test? I'm really not familiar with this process at all (IDK how many really are..?) and I looked at a few sources and they seems to show 3-4 different types of testing, and they vary in what they excel in.

Would this be good to determine the purity of a compound? Like if someone made a salt of CuSO4 of NiSO4 and they wanted to see what kind of contaminates are present, would this work for this application?

Hegi - 3-9-2018 at 11:43

Quote: Originally posted by RogueRose  
Could you maybe explain what would be expected from a Raman spec test? I'm really not familiar with this process at all (IDK how many really are..?) and I looked at a few sources and they seems to show 3-4 different types of testing, and they vary in what they excel in.

Would this be good to determine the purity of a compound? Like if someone made a salt of CuSO4 of NiSO4 and they wanted to see what kind of contaminates are present, would this work for this application?


Basically Raman and IR spectroscopy can help you identify the nature of bonds present in your compound and also local symmetries (Raman). For sure you detect mixtures and purity of your compound by matching your spectra with database data. Sometimes it can be easily detected without any matching too.

quadrupole - 14-9-2018 at 17:34

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR  
Quote: Originally posted by Hegi  
Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR  
Interesting... might help to give an example of cost.

Now that I have HPLC in my garage I would also consider doing something like this.


I strongly suggest it to you. You may help many people and earn some money yourself to run the machine.

Considering all aspects (manipulation with sample, measurement, machine running costs) I think it would be reasonable to start at 5$ per sample. Of course, with the increasing number of samples the price will rapidly fall down.

Let´s say for 5 samples you would only be charged 20$ instead of 25, for 10 and more samples 3$ per sample... as most probably ten samples will arrive together and I will not be forced to visit the post office 10 times.. and start machine ten times..


That's very reasonable I think.



Re HPLC:

I think that would be a bit trickier since the chromatogram of a sample can change dramatically depending on the conditions, so would possibly require several runs to get a good result. If there was an already known/published HPLC method then that would be useful. I would also need to consider the cost of consumables (solvents, autosampler vials, syringes, filters, etc).

However if anyone (UK/EU easiest) here has some samples they'd like me to run I'm happy to discuss that. I only have reverse phase C18 columns currently. It'd be most useful if you had a few related samples to run under the same conditions to compare (for example, the starting materials individually as well as the product of a synthesis).



do it.
I usually charge $40/sample, but because it's UHPLC-MS


IMG_4679 2.jpg - 199kB

egret - 12-9-2019 at 13:23

I am so sorry, I know one year is gone. So is this great offer stil active?
It would be help a lot.

[Edited on 12-9-2019 by egret]