title: Nanoparticle Surface Specific Adsorption of Zein and Its Self-assembled Behavior of Nanocubes Formation in Relation to On-Off SERS: Understanding Morphology Control of Protein Aggregates.
abstract: Zein, an industrially important protein, is characterized in terms of its food and pharmaceutical coating applications by using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) on Au, Ag, and PbS nanoparticles (NPs). Its specific surface adsorption behavior on Ag NPs produced self-assembled zein nanocubes which demonstrated on and off SERS activity. Both SERS characterization as well as nanocube formation of zein helped us to understand the complex protein aggregation behavior in shape controlled morphologies, a process with significant ramifications in protein crystallization to achieve ordered morphologies. Interestingly, nanocube formation was promoted in the presence of Ag rather than Au or PbS NPs under in situ synthesis and discussed in terms of specific adsorption. Zein fingerprinting was much more clear and enhanced on Au surface in comparison to Ag while PbS did not demonstrate SERS due to its semiconducting nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, UGC Sponsored Center for Advanced Studies-1, Guru Nanak Dev University , Amritsar-143005, Punjab India.
authors.lastname: Navdeep
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, UGC Sponsored Center for Advanced Studies-1, Guru Nanak Dev University , Amritsar-143005, Punjab India.
authors.forename: Tarlok Singh
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Banipal
authors.affiliation: Nanotechnology Research Laboratory, College of North Atlantic , Labrador City, Newfoundland A2V 2K7 Canada.
authors.forename: Gurinder
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Wilfrid Laurier University , Science Building, 75 University Avenue West, Waterloo Ontario N2L 3C5, Canada.
authors.forename: Mandeep Singh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bakshi
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D003460:Crystallization; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D066329:Protein Aggregates; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013499:Surface Properties; D015028:Zein / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D066329:Protein Aggregates; D012834:Silver; D006046:Gold; D015028:Zein
keywords: SERS; self-aggregation; surface adsorption; zein