SR-IMS Molecular Spectroscopic Image of Functional Groups in Biopolymers in Feed Systems

1.1 Powerful SR-IMS research tool for imaging in complex feed systems Advanced ultra-spatially resolved synchrotron-radiation Fourier transform infrared micorspectroscopy (SR-IMS) has been developed as a bioanalytically probing technique to study biomaterials at cellular and molecular levels within intact tissue (1-3). This technique, taking advantage of bright synchrotron light which is millions time brighter than sunlight, is able to provide four kind of information simultaneously: tissue chemistry, tissue composition, tissue environment and tissue structure (4, 5). Compared with conventional chemical analysis in the lab, this technique can link chemical information to structure information without destruction of original structure information. No harsh chemicals are involved. The use of harsh chemicals and derivatization can result in altering the native structures and possibly generating artifacts in complex plant system (5).