Raman microscopy of a small uniaxial crystal: Tetragonal aspartame

Abstract

AbstractA general method is presented for determining the shape and orientation of the Raman tensor of a molecule in a uniaxial crystal using a Raman microscope. First, equations are derived to connect the Raman tensor components (αxx, αyy, etc.) of a molecule to the Raman tensor components (αaa, αcc, etc.) of a crystal that is composed of molecules in a uniaxial arrangement, with an orientation specified by the two angles χ and θ. Next, a method is presented to obtain a correct set of values of the intensity ratios Iac/Iaa and Icc/Iaa from observed values of the intensity ratios measured with a Raman microscope. To augment the experimental data, the depolarization ratio ρ (for a completely random molecular orientation) is plotted as a function of r1 = αxx/αzz and r2 = αyy/αzz, so that a possible set of r1 and r2 values can be found from an observed value of ρ. The method has been applied to an aspartame IIA crystal (P41). A set of values of r1, r2, χ and θ has been determined for each of the following Raman fundamentals: 1741 cm−1 (ester CO stretch), 1667 cm−1 (amide I), 1275 cm−1 (amide III) and 1204 cm−1 (CCphenyl stretch), excited at 488.0 nm.