Use of Principal Component Analysis in a near Infrared Study of the Dissociation Process of Oleyl Alcohol

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the usefulness of principal component analysis (PCA) in the study of the dissociation process of oleyl alcohol (cis-9-octadecen-1-ol) as the pure liquid. Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectra of the neat alcohol were measured over a temperature range of 6.5–90°C in the 11,500–6000 cm⁻¹ region. The degree of dissociation of the alcohol was determined by the intensities of the first and second overtones of the OH stretching mode of the monomer. PCA on the obtained spectra were calculated over three different regions, the entire 11,500–6000 cm⁻¹ region and the 11,500–9087 and 9087–6000 cm⁻¹ regions. PCA clearly reveals that there exists a break point at around 45°C in the dissociation process of the alcohol.