Patent ID: 7676337

Claim:
An irreversible-reaction measurement method for measuring an irreversible reaction of a measurement sample, by using a step-scan measurement function of a Fourier-transform spectrophotometer, the measurement sample being divided into a plurality of parts depending on a desired number of measurement data points for the irreversible reaction and measurement thereof, the divided parts of the measurement sample being subjected to similar perturbations and producing similar irreversible reactions, the irreversible reactions in the divided parts of the measurement sample being measured in similar manners, the irreversible-reaction measurement method comprising: a perturbation-applying step in which a perturbation is applied to one of the divided parts of the measurement sample placed in a measurement light path of the Fourier-transform spectrophotometer to cause an irreversible reaction while a movable mirror of the Fourier-transform spectrophotometer remains at a measurement data point; a detection step in which interferogram data is detected from the divided part of the measurement sample placed in the measurement light path at predetermined time intervals after the application of the perturbation; a measurement-data-point setup step in which the movable mirror moves to and remains at the next measurement data point after the reaction of the divided part of the measurement sample placed in the measurement light path reaches an end point; a sample setup step in which the divided part of the measurement sample placed in the measurement light path is changed to the next divided part of the measurement sample each time the movable mirror moves to the next measurement data point; and a data processing step in which the irreversible reaction of the measurement sample is analyzed in accordance with the interferogram data obtained by repeating the individual steps.