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Nitrites (NO2− ions) in food and drink play an important role in human health but require complicated operations before detection. Herein, we present a rationally designed SERS-enabled micro-chamber that comprised a drawn glass capillary with a tiny orifice (∼50 μm) at the distal tip, wherein the gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are compactly coated on the inner wall surface. In this chamber, nitrites specifically trigger a pH and laser irradiance-dependent diazotization starting from p-aminothiophenol (PATP) absorbed onto the surface of Au NPs to form p,p′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) molecules, in which the presence of NO2− ions above 30.7 μM (1.38 ppm) in the siphoned liquid sample can be identified relying on SERS peak (1141 cm−1) intensity of the emerging azo moiety. Except for pH conditions, laser irradiance is more important but easily neglected in previous studies, which is capable of preventing generation of errors when the detection sensitivity was pursued through increasing the laser power. In this case, several real samples (rather than simple water samples), including honey, pickled vegetable and fermented bean curd, had been successfully detected accurately through such a convenient sampling micro-chamber. The SERS-enabled device could potentially be facilely incorporated with portable Raman instruments for a special application of food inspection in rapid and field analysis of NO2− ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we presented a novel logic gate based on an INHIBITION gate that performs parallel readouts. Logic gates performing INHIBITION and YES/OR were constructed using surface-enhanced Raman scattering as optical outputs for the first time. The strategy allowed for simultaneous reading of outputs in one tube. The applicability of this strategy has been successfully exemplified in the construction of half-adder using the two-output logic gates as reporting gates. This reporting strategy provides additional design flexibility for dynamic DNA devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB), a unique group of Gram-negative bacteria utilizing methane as a sole source of carbon and energy, have been proved to be a biological indicator for gas prospecting. Field and cultivation-free detection of MOB is important but still challenging in current microbial prospecting of oil and gas (MPOG) system. Herein, SERS was used for the first time to our knowledge to investigate two species of methanotrophs and four closely relevant bacteria that universally coexisted in the upper soil of natural gas. A special but very simple approach was utilized to make silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) sufficiently contact with every single bacterial cell, and highly strong and distinct Raman signals free from any native fluorescence have been obtained, and successfully utilized for distinguishing MOB from other species. A more convincing multi-Raman criterion based on single Raman bands, and further the entire Raman spectrum in combination with statistical analysis (e.g., principal component analysis (PCA)), which were found capable of classifying MOB related bacterial cells in soil with an accuracy of 100%. This study therefore demonstrated sensitive and rapid SERS measurement technique accompanied by complete Raman database of various gas reservoirs related bacteria could aid field exploration of natural gas reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unbiodegradable toxic Hg 2+ accumulates in ecological systems and results in contaminated food chain, exposing us to high level pollution and healthy risk. Here, monolayer 2,5-Dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMcT) functionalized Au@Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were controllably constructed as a label-free SERS probe. Based on them, we can perform rapid and easy Hg 2+ identification with high sensitivity and selectivity over competing analytes. Remarkably, DMcT acted as both interior label and target acquisition. Since DMcT showed intrinsic Raman signal when attached to substrates surface, it can be employed for quantification instead of extra conventional signal label. Also, we’ve demonstrated that DMcT coordinated on the surface of Au@Ag NPs as bidentate ligand with both the thiocarbonyl sulfur atoms while the nitrogen atoms on the different sides of the molecule were devoted to Hg 2+ recognition. Owing to the strong coordination between Hg 2+ and nitrogen atoms, as low as 10 pM Hg 2+ can be detected. The probe responded a good linear relationship ranging from 0.05 to 100 nM and the limit of detection is ~3 orders of magnitude lower than the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)-defined limit (10 nM) in drinkable water (EPA: Washington, DC, 2001). Furthermore, our suggested platform is highly effective to perform real samples detection. Utilizing the environmental water from East Lake, Wuhan, it resulted in better accuracy over the conventional standard method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we propose for the first time a simple and novel approach based on SERS and As (III) -aptamer for detection of As (III) with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. To maintain the wonderful SERS substrate, Au@Ag shell–core nanoparticle has been successfully synthesized by seeds growth method. As-prepared Au@Ag not only has well-dispersed but also obtains high SERS efficiency. The novel As (III) biosensor has an excellent linear correlation with the concentration of As (III) ranging from 0.5 to 10 ppb. The detection limit of this assay for As (III) is 0.1 ppb (3 times standard deviation rules) which is lower than the maximum limitation guided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Importantly, the results were demonstrated that no other ions interfered with the detection of As (III) in water. Further, this As (III) biosensor was demonstrated in monitoring As (III) in lake water samples with satisfactory results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we suggest a chitosan-modified popcorn-like Au–Ag nanoparticles (CSPNPs) based assay for high sensitive detection of melamine, in which CSPNPs not only provide with an intrinsic peroxidase-like activity but also act as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates. CSPNPs can catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H 2 O 2 to the charge transfer complex (CTC), which contributes to a tremendous surface-enhanced resonant Raman scattering (SERRS) signals with 632.8 nm laser excitation. The target molecule melamine can generate an additional compound with H 2 O 2 , which means the available amount of H 2 O 2 for the oxidation of TMB reduced. Correspondingly, the SERRS intensity of CTC is decreased. The decreased Raman intensity is proportional to the concentration of melamine over a wide range from 10 nM to 50 μM ( R 2 =0.989), with a limit of detection (LOD) of 8.51 nM. Moreover, the proposed highly selective method is fully capable of rapid, separation-free detection of melamine in milk powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe herein a novel' “turn-on” SERS-based strategy for protease detection based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and the mediation of spacing between 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) labeled gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through enzyme assays. The method employed non-cross-linking aggregation of 4-MBA-modified AuNPs by peptides after treatment with target protease. Thus, SERS signals of 4-MBA are sharply increased because of the decreased electrostatic stability of AuNPs that initiated gold nanoaggregates incorporating Raman reporter molecules due to the formation of “Hot Spots”. Through this strategy, a novel and facile “turn-on” SERS biosensor for trypsin and thrombin based on enzymatic cleavage activity is established with sensitivity, selectivity and simplicity as AuNPs and peptides are easily accessible. Compared with other methods, this newly proposed method has improved sensitivity. The limit of detection was 85 fM (at the ratio of signal to noise, S/N=3:1) for trypsin. Controlled experiments showed that the method exhibited good selectivity over other proteases. We also proved that this principle could be easily adapted to detection of other proteases such as thrombin. The method demonstrated the capability for application in complex matrix samples. The results also presented the potential and superiority of SERS biosensor as a general approach for proteases based on enzyme activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Stable SERS response originating from gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) is demonstrated for the first time to be suitable for detection of heparin with high selectivity. Herein we report a novel “turn-off” SERS assay for heparin based on Raman labelled Au NPs and competitive bonding between heparin and two specialized peptides, such as RKGSGRRLVKC (11-peptide) and CALNN (5-peptide). By means of coordination interactions and other non-electrostatic forces, these 5-peptide capped Au NPs are induced to undergo controllable aggregation upon the additive of 11-peptide and heparin with a concentration range (0–2.4U/mL), which correspondingly cause quantitative changes of SERS intensity of 4-MBA conjugated on Au NPs. The decreased Raman intensity obtained by subtracting two cases of additives which contain only 11-peptide and the mixture of 11-peptide and heparin, is proportional to the concentration of heparin over a range of 0.2–2.4U/mL (R 2=0.99157), with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.042U/mL (S/N=3:1). Moreover, the proposed highly selective method has potential application for rapid, separation-free detection of heparin in human blood serum samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]