Inorganics III: Even More Spectra, and the Grand Finale

We wrap up our discussion of the mid-infrared spectra of inorganic compounds by looking at the spectra of silicates, nitrates, and phosphates. We see that silicates have complex surface chemistry, and that infrared (IR) spectroscopy can tell us something about this. We will note that, of the five families of inorganics examined, the wavenumber ranges for the polyatomic anion stretching peaks in several of these functional groups overlap. However, polyatomic anion bending vibration peaks can be used to distinguish the five types of inorganics studied.