The present work demonstrates that the observed intensity of an infrared spectrum of a thin film or monolayer on a metal substrate can be increased an order of magnitude by using attenuated total reflection (ATR) instrumentation with a single reflection (pseudo-ATR). The intensities of signal peaks in the pseudo-ATR IR spectrum of a sample of n-octadecane-1-thiol-d(37) on gold exceed by an order of magnitude those in a spectrum taken using traditional grazing angle specular reflectance. The reproducibility of the two spectra is comparable.