Quality Data from Messy Spectra: How Isometric Points Increase Information Content in Highly Overlapping Spectra

Spectroscopic techniques are immensely useful for obtaining information about chemical transformations while they are happening. However, such data are often messy, and it is challenging to extract reliable information from them without careful calibrations or internal standards. This short introductory review discusses how isometric points (points in a spectrum where the signal intensity remains constant throughout the progress of a chemical transformation) can be used to derive high-quality data from messy spectra. Such analyses are helpful in a variety of (bio-)chemical settings, as selected case studies demonstrate.