UV-Vis Spectrophotometer Applications

UV-Vis Spectrophotometer applications

Meet your analytical challenges with our complete line of ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometers. Our proven designs and user-friendly software help you quantify, assess purity, and more. Rely on industry-tested solutions for a variety of applications commonly used in basic research, quality control, chemical, pharmaceutical, education, life science, and food and beverage communities.

Education

We’re committed to help prepare the next generation of scientists, with hands-on access to real-world instrumentation. Teaching and practical training of UV-Visible spectroscopic techniques for elemental and structural analysis of materials are an important part of many chemistry curriculums. 

Whether you are teaching introductory chemistry, organic chemistry, or advanced instrumentation courses, our Thermo Scientific GENESYS and SPECTRONIC Spectrophotometers offer ease of use, reliable operation, and connected solutions for the modern classroom. Explore our courses and resources to find lesson plans, videos, webinars, and products that fit your curriculum needs and ignite the scientist in each of your students. 

Thermo Scientific NanoDrop Lite Plus Spectrophotometer

The Thermo Scientific NanoDrop Lite Plus Spectrophotometer is a valuable, affordably priced tool for teaching students molecular biology principles and experimental techniques. The compact and portable unit fits on any lab bench and provides fast, accurate measurements from only 1–2 µL samples. Measure purified DNA, RNA, and protein concentration and calculate critical A260/A280 and A260/A230 purity ratios using trusted NanoDrop technology.

UV-Vis Spectrophotometer pharmaceutical applications

UV-Visible spectroscopy is a well-established analytical technique used in the pharmaceutical industry for testing in the research and quality control stages of drug development. Thermo Scientific Evolution UV-Vis Spectrophotometers provide highly accurate measurements and meet all USP and EP performance characteristics (Evolution Pro also meets JP) and enable 21 CFR Part 11 compliance with Thermo Scientific Insight Pro Security Software. 

For UV-Visible spectrophotometers in regulated laboratories, performance verification at installation and at set intervals thereafter is needed. National pharmacopeias with international reach define specific performance levels for various criteria in the pharmaceutical industry.

UV-Visible pharmacopeia performance requirements

Development of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs): From scans to stop-flow kinetics, UV-Vis is a common technique in drug discovery and development.

Quantification of impurities: UV-Vis is commonly utilized in pharmaceutical monographs for quantifying impurities in drug ingredients and drug products.

Dissolution testing: UV-Vis spectroscopy has long been a method for analyzing the results of dissolution testing of solid oral dosage forms like tablets.

Chemical identification and quantification: UV-Vis spectroscopy can confirm chemical identity and quantify the purity of drugs/drug ingredients.

Ibuprofen is used as a medication for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. The USP and EP have identification tests to confirm the quality of ibuprofen samples using UV-Vis spectroscopy and other techniques. In our application note, Spectrophotometric analysis of ibuprofen according to USP and EP monographs, we used a Thermo Scientific Evolution Pro UV-Vis Spectrophotometer with Thermo Scientific INSIGHT Software to perform the UV-Vis identification tests.

UV-Vis spectrophotometers for quality control

Quality assurance/quality control

The quality control processes of a laboratory are critical to ensuring that high-quality data is collected and reported accurately every time. A problem with any step in the process can lead to a multitude of consequences including out-of-specification results, delays in product release, and even product recalls. Some of the largest contributors to these problems arise from analyst errors and unplanned method deviations. 

You can rely on GENESYS or Evolution series UV-Vis instruments and intuitive software for fast, accurate analysis of incoming ingredients, in-process materials, and finished products that enable even non-technical operators to quickly get results. GENESYS Spectrophotometers provide touch screen operation and pre-programmed methods, enabling you to quickly get the results needed to make decisions and prevent downstream quality problems. Or choose Evolution UV-Vis Spectrophotometers to combine reliable and versatile hardware with intuitive Thermo Scientific Insight Pro Software to meet the diverse needs of your organization and regulatory compliance. Add thermostatted cell changers and autosamplers to improve sample throughput or select specialized reflectance and transmittance accessories for materials science analysis and QC.

Gain confidence in your quality control by incorporating multiple analyses into your workflow. Get fast, reliable answers with our intuitive spectroscopy tools—perfect for QA/QC testing. 

Regulatory compliance for QC

As a quality-driven business or regulated laboratory, you need confidence in the answers your instrumentation provides—with the supporting documentation. We offer a portfolio of system qualification and validation packages, certification services, and operator training for Evolution One/One Plus and Evolution Pro UV-Vis Spectrophotometers to help reduce implementation time, assure system performance, and make compliance easier

UV-Vis spectrophotometers food & beverage applications

Food and beverage development from concept to research and development and through commercialization is nuanced and complex. Quality control and analysis of foods and beverages cover the ability to assess sensory attributes, nutritional components, and chemical compositions of ingredients, contaminants, and the final food product to make the product healthier, cleaner, and safer.

 

Spectroscopy for beverage analysis

Non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks require reliable beverage analysis methods to assess ingredients and other definitive characteristics. Typically, this is accomplished with colorimetric measurements in the visible range. UV-Visible spectrophotometers offer quick, inexpensive, easy-to-use analysis to verify whether product quality is within specification, especially for beverages like beer, wine, juices, energy and soft drinks, waters, and other thin liquids, but also can work with sticky and thick liquids, like honey, or oily ones, like palm oil. 

Enable beverage analysis with VISIONlite Software

Thermo Scientific VISIONlite 5 Software enhances the capabilities of our stand-alone Vis and UV-Vis instruments, displaying and reporting experimental and analytical results with ease.

 


Thermo Scientific VISIONlite EnzLab Software offers predefined methods and operation procedures for all standard enzymatic test kits.

Thermo Scientific VISIONlite ColorCalc Software adds the ability to record the transmission or reflectance spectrum and perform color calculations for a variety of applications. 

 

 Thermo Scientific VISIONlite Wine Analysis Software provides a set of predefined photometric, colorimetric, and enzymatic analytical procedures common in wine and juice analysis.

 

BeerCraft Software for use with GENESYS 50/150

The size, simplicity, and cost-effective operation of a UV-Vis spectrophotometer and the variety of tests available make it an ideal instrument for analyzing beer and evaluating brewing ingredients. Thermo Scientific BeerCraft Software makes it simple to ensure the consistency of each unique brew without complicated calculations.

 

Pre-programmed methods enable quick and easy measurements of over twenty beer attributes at the touch of a button to maintain your beer’s identity and the success of your brand:

  • Diacetyl
  • Dissolved Oxygen
  • Free Amino Nitrogen
  • Flocculation
  • Iron
  • Iso-α-Acids
  • Malt Sulfur Dioxide
  • Reducing Sugar
  • Thiobarbituric Acid Index
  • Total Carbohydrate
  • Total Polyphenols
  • Tristimulus Color
  • Wort Bitterness Units

How are UV-Vis spectroscopy and BeerCraft Software changing beer brewing for the better?

 

Omega Yeast was founded in 2013 with the goal of providing reliable, made to order yeast and bacterial pitches for professional and home brewers all over the world. They work with breweries large and small to offer advice for strain selection and troubleshooting.

“…we find that we rely heavily on colorimetric assays as affordable screening tools for research. The spec has helped us study topics such as hop creep, diastatic yeast, wild yeast metabolites, yeast contributions to haze, nutritional requirements of yeast.”
~ Laura Burns, Director of R&D

Read our Craft brewing case study - Omega Yeast

 

 


 

pFriem Family Brewers took inspiration from great Belgian and German brewers to create award-winning artisanal beer with a unique Pacific Northwest hometown flair. Their testing processes and UV-Vis spectrophotometry methods ensure consistent quality and flavor.

“...we’ve found the spectrophotometer to be an invaluable tool for routine beer testing on numerous levels. It is so amenable to many types of testing that it has quickly become an integral part of our quality laboratory…I could not imagine running a beer quality program without one.”
~ Max Kravitz, Quality Laboratory Manager

Read How pFriem Family Brewers use UV-Vis for Quality Control

 

UV-Vis Spectrophotometers life science applications

UV-Vis spectroscopy is a multipurpose tool that can help across academic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, environmental, and other disciplines in the life sciences industry focused on improving the quality and safety of humans and animals. Simple techniques enable quantification and qualification of biomaterials from protein to bacteria and nucleic acids.

 

Protein analysis and measurements

 

Whether you are testing protein samples as part of batch quality control or as a precursor before additional reactions, the accuracy and efficiency of measurement are critical to success. Thermo Fisher Scientific offers solutions for each unique situation.

 

UV-Vis spectrophotometers for chemical analysis

UV-Vis spectrophotometers and accessories for measuring the amount of light absorbed, transmitted, and reflected by a sample enable both quantification and qualification. You can readily quantify biomolecules (in Life science applications for nucleic acids, proteins, and others), other organic compounds, and inorganic metals by how the samples affect the beam of light at specific wavelengths. Or you can measure the entire UV-Vis absorption spectra to accurately identify a substance according to its unique peak profile by comparison with spectra of known compounds.

UV-Vis spectroscopy can provide chemical identification and quantification in a variety of scenarios, from iron in fuel as shown here to confirm the purity of a nucleic acid or protein biomolecule. 

UV-Vis spectrophotometers for bacterial culturing

To track the growth of a bacterial culture, you can monitor the amount of light scattered away from the instrument’s detector (rather than chemical absorbance) as it travels through a bacterial suspension, which decreases as the number of bacteria increases in an inversely proportional manner. Using a spectrophotometer to monitor growth to measure the optical density (OD) at 600 nm helps simplify the management of this central technique of microbiology. 

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.