A strategy for enhancing the quantitative determination ability of the diffuse reflectance near-infrared spectroscopy

Near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (NIRDRS) has been proved to be a convenient and fast quantitative method for complex samples. The high detection limit or the low sensitivity of the method, however, is a big problem obstructing its application in the analysis of low concentration samples. A strategy for quantitative determination of low concentration samples was developed by using NIRDRS. The method takes an adsorbent as a substrate for gathering the analytes from a solution, and uses the multivariate calibration technique for quantitative calculation. So, the detection limit can be improved and the interferences can be eliminated when complex samples are analyzed. Taking benzoic and sorbic acids as the analyzing targets and the alumina as the adsorbent, partial least squares (PLS) model is built from the NIRDRS of the adsorbates. The results show that the concentrations that can be quantitatively detected are as low as 0.011 and 0.013 mg mL−1 for benzoic and sorbic acids, respectively, and the co-adsorbates do not interfere each other.