Use of Thermal Blooming Spectroscopy for Enzymatic Analyses

Abstract

Thermal blooming has been used to measure weak absorption. The thermal lens was generated with a chopper ion laser (488 nm) and monitored with a helium-neon laser, using lock-in detection. The generation of dopachrome by enzyme-catalyzed air oxidation of dopamine was monitored as the rise of the dopachrome absorption signal. Dopamine concentrations were found to be proportional to initial slopes. Modifications to the existing apparatus to improve detection limits are suggested.