{"term":{"id":"08290","title":"spectral subtraction","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - spectral subtraction","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.08290","code":"08290","status":"current","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"Ordinate of one spectrum minus ordinate of another spectrum.","notes":{"1":"Spectral subtraction may be used to improve the ability to detect of minor components in the spectrum of a mixture.","2":"Successful use of the technique requires spectra, such as absorbance and Raman spectra, in which the ordinate is linear in concentration; a precisely agreeing wavenumber scale; and a very high signal-to-noise ratio."},"links":[{"term":"Raman spectra","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08670"},{"term":"signal-to-noise ratio","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08282"},{"term":"spectrum","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08291"},{"term":"wavenumber","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08302"}],"sources":["PAC, 2021, 93, 647. 'Glossary of methods and terms used in analytical spectroscopy (IUPAC Recommendations 2019)' on page 674 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1515\/pac-2019-0203)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08290\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08290\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/08290\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'spectral subtraction' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.08290","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-06-30T05:45:24+00:00"}}