Infrared Spectrometry since 1945

The period since World War II has resulted in a steady growth throughout the infrared field. This growth has been mainly one of utilization and extension of wartime developments and techniques rather than one of fundamentally new discoveries. Even so, the process of utilization and extension has been so broad that the field has altered radically in the last five years. An example of this alteration is the acceptance of the infrared spectrum by the organic chemist. A perusal of the Arthur Becker Lamb tributary issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, January, 1950, shows a large number of infrared spectra of organic materials presented simply as a compound characteristic comparable with a melting point, or as a part of proof of structure comparable with a bromination measurement. The interesting point is that, in many cases, no description at all is given of the spectrometer or the sampling conditions used. At some sites, evidently, the infrared spectrometer has been so successful as to reach a stage of oblivion, and now ranks with the distillation column or gravimetric balance as standard laboratory furniture. Actually, this is to be expected since there are probably over 1000 infrared spectrometers in use today.