Review of Existing Standards, Guides, and Practices for Raman Spectroscopy
Publication category: Article
Authors: Afroditi Ntziouni, James Matthew Thomson, Ioannis Xiarchos, Xiang Li, Miguel A. Bañares, Costas Charitidis, Raquel Portela, Enrique Lozano
Journal: Applied Spectroscopy [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/asp]
Publication date: 21 March 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00037028221090988
Language: English
Abstract:
Over the past decades Raman spectroscopy has been extensively used both on an industrial and academic level. This has resulted in the development of numerous specialised Raman techniques and Raman active products, which in turn has led to the adoption and development of standards and norms pertaining to Raman unit’s calibration, performance validation and interoperability. Purpose of the present review is to list, classify and engage in a comprehensive analysis of the different standards, guides and practices relating to Raman spectroscopy. Primary aim of the review is to consider the commonalities and conflicts between these standards and norms and to identify any missing aspects. Standardisation in the field of Raman spectroscopy is dominated by the work of American institutions, namely the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM or ASTM International), with several active standards in place pertaining to terminology, calibration, multivariate analysis and specific applications, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), providing numerous standard reference materials. The industrial application of Raman spectroscopy is dominated by the pharmaceutical industry. As such, pharmacopoeias provide not only important information in relation to pharmaceutical-related applications of Raman spectroscopy, but also invaluable insight, usually by referring to ASTM and NIST standards, into the basic principles of Raman spectroscopy and important aspects that include calibration, validation, measurement and chemometric analysis processes. Given the fact that Raman spectroscopy is a modern and innovative field, the standardisation processes are complex and constantly evolving. Despite the seemingly high number of existing standards, the standardisation landscape is incomplete and has not been modernised according to the developments in Raman spectroscopy techniques in recent years. This is evident by the lack of protocols for numerous areas as well as by the fact that some of the existing standards have not been updated to reflect the advances in the technique. Therefore, it is important for the Raman community to actively engage in and contribute to a modernisation process that will result in updating exiting and introducing new terms, protocols and guides. Indeed, the development of optimised common standards would be extremely beneficial and would further foster the development and application of Raman spectroscopy techniques, most notably those of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy and low-resolution portable analysers.
