How to Operate the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer

Ensure switch on the back of the FTIR is ON (not the switch on top)

Ensure BioRad USB is plugged into the back of the computer

If FTIR is not on, turn it on and wait 15 minutes for the machine to warm up

If BioRad USB is missing contact Dr. Harding

Turn on the computer monitor and computer tower

Flip the switch on the front of the FTIR to ON

The green LED next to the "resume" and "bot" text should light up. The "laser" LED should light up about 15 seconds after turning on

Open the Spectrum Management program by double clicking the icon on the desktop

If FTIR has been idle for a while the program may not open. Fix this by turning the FTIR switch on front OFF then back ON

Double click the Spectra Measurement icon on the left column

Carefully open the lid of the FTIR and twist the black knob counterclockwise and rotate it away from the sample surface

Squirt Isopropyl Alcohol onto several kimwipes and lightly wipe the sample surface and the positioning arm tip

Close the lid of the FTIR (sample should not be in at this point)

Locate the B icon with the red arrow and click on it

Background scan will be run that takes about 2 mins and will produce a graph

Open the blue lid again and lightly place your sample onto the sample surface

Rotate the positioning arm clockwise until it is over the sample

Twist the black knob clock wise until it touches the sample surface ( you will feel a gentle click)

Close the lid of the FTIR

Click the "S" icon with the red arrow through it on the tool bar

Wait for 30 seconds for the scan to be taken, a new graph will replace the old graph

A flashing icon depicting a light blue graph will appear on the task bar, click on this icon to open the Spectrum Analysis program

Click on the wizard hat icon on the top tool bar on the right and the IR scan will be displayed in the "Know-It-All" software

Move over from the "IR Spectrum" tab to the "Databases" tab within the Search Parameters window

Under the "Databases" tab, click on the + icon next to the "Reference-Licensed" option and select "all"

On the left middle of the of the screen click on the "Add All" button and the four material categories will be moved to the "Selected for Searching" window

Click the "Search" button at the bottom right of the screen

Your graph will appear in black in the "MineIt" tool of the software while the orange graph will be the IR scan of the reference material

Select different reference materials in the bottom window to overlay onto your sample spectra

The similarity between your sample and the reference sample is given a Hit Quality Index (HQI) score

The higher the HQI score, the greater the similarity between the two spectra with the maximum score being 999

The Y-axis can be changed from % Absorbance to % Transmittance by clicking the view tab

The spectra can be overlaid, offset, or stacked by clicking on the icons on the toolbar at the top of the "MineIt" window

Take a screenshot of the sample by clicking on the "Snipping Tool" on the bottom toolbar of windows (scissor icon)

Save the screenshot onto a USB drive and exit out of the snipping tool window

Open the lid of the FTIR and remove the sample from the FTIR by reversing the steps of placing it in

Wipe down the sample surface and the bottom tip of the positioning arm again with isopropyl alcohol on the Kimwipes

Exit out of all the software programs

Turn the power switch on the top of the FTIR to "OFF"

Ensure that you exit the software before turning off the FTIR