What are the advantages/disadvantages of second derivative baseline corrections?
Second derivatives are used to correct for curved baselines. However, applying second derivatives reduces the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 100. This reduction is partially offset by simultaneously applying a smoothing algorithm, but care must be taken in determining the degree of smoothing or data (and results) will be distorted. The more straightforward single, dual, and average-over-range wavelength corrections are preferred. Second derivatives (always applied with smoothing) can distort the data.
