A novel normalization method based on principal component analysis to reduce the effect of peak overlaps in two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) has been widely used to separate overlapped spectroscopic bands. However, band overlap may sometimes cause misleading results in the 2D-COS spectra, especially if one peak is embedded within another peak by the overlap. In this work, we propose a new normalization method, based on principal component analysis (PCA). For each spectrum under discussion, the first principal component of PCA is simply taken as the normalization factor of the spectrum. It is demonstrated that the method works well with simulated dynamic spectra. Successful result has also been obtained from the analysis of an overlapped band in the wavenumber range 1440-1486 cm−1 for the evaporation process of a solution containing behenic acid, methanol, and chloroform.