title: Heparin assisted photochemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their performance as SERS substrates.
abstract: Reactive and pharmaceutical-grade heparins were used as biologically compatible reducing and stabilizing agents to photochemically synthesize colloidal gold nanoparticles. Aggregates and anisotropic shapes were obtained photochemically under UV black-light lamp irradiation (λ = 366 nm). Heparin-functionalized gold nanoparticles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The negatively charged colloids were used for the Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) analysis of differently charged analytes (dyes). Measurements of pH were taken to inspect how the acidity of the medium affects the colloid-analyte interaction. SERS spectra were taken by mixing the dyes and the colloidal solutions without further functionalization or addition of any aggregating agent.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopia de Materiales Avanzados y Nanoestructurados (GEMANA), Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C. Loma del Bosque 115, León, Guanajuato, C.P. 37150, Mexico. mprt@cio.mx.
authors.forename: Maria del Pilar
authors.initials: Mdel P
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Torres
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Espectroscopia de Materiales Avanzados y Nanoestructurados (GEMANA), Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C. Loma del Bosque 115, León, Guanajuato, C.P. 37150, Mexico. ditlacio@cio.mx.
authors.forename: Luis Armando
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Díaz-Torres
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C., Loma del Bosque 115, León, Guanajuato, C.P. 37150, Mexico. sromero@cio.mx.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Romero-Servin
mesh_terms: D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D017979:Gold Colloid / Q000737:chemistry*; D006493:Heparin / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D017979:Gold Colloid; D006046:Gold; D006493:Heparin