Analytical Sciences

Recent Progress of Near-Infrared (NIR) Imaging —Development of Novel Instruments and Their Applicability for Practical Situations—

Daitaro ISHIKAWA,*1 Hideyuki SHINZAWA,*2 Takuma GENKAWA,*3 Sergei G. KAZARIAN,*4 and Yukihiro OZAKI*1

*1 Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1337, Japan
*2 Research Institute of Instrumentation Frontier, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Nagoya, Aichi 450-0002, Japan
*3 Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan
*4 Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

The purpose of this review article is to outline the recent progress in near-infrared (NIR) imaging technology with particular emphasis on new instrumentation. Superior features of NIR imaging such as suitability for nondestructive and in-situ analysis, transmission ability, availability of optical fibers, high-speed monitoring and stability are very attractive not only for laboratory-based studies but also for diverse practical applications. In this review, introduction to chemical imaging is described, and then, a comparison among NIR, infrared (IR) and Raman imaging are made. Furthermore, the features of new NIR imaging instruments developed by our research group in collaboration with Yokogawa Electric Corporation and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. are discussed. Finally, some examples of applications of NIR imaging are introduced. Particularly, the performance and usefulness of the newly-developed imaging devices are demonstrated through their applications to pharmaceutical tablets and polymers.

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