2.7. Mid-infrared (MIR) measurement
To determine whether there were any identifiable biochemical
differences between samples that differed in vitamin E or antioxidant
capacity after storage, MIR was applied. Barley flour, from
fresh and stored samples, was scanned using a platinum diamond
ATR single reflection sampling module cell mounted in a Bruker
Alpha instrument (Bruker Optics GmbH, Ettlingen, Germany) and
spectra were recorded on OPUS software version 7.0 provided by
Bruker Optics (average of 64 scans at a resolution of 8 cm1,
between 4000 and 375 cm1) (Cozzolino, Roumeliotis, & Eglinton,
2013). The samples were held against the ATR crystal using the
pressure applicator or sample clamp mechanism supplied by the
instrument manufacturer to ensure that the same and constant
pressure was applied for all replicates. Air was used as reference
background spectra.