title: Raman and DFT study of methimazole chemisorbed on gold colloidal nanoparticles.
abstract: The adsorption of methimazole on gold colloidal nanoparticles was investigated using a combination of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and density functional theory calculations, which allowed identifying the thiolate anion as the molecular species chemically interacting with the active sites of the gold surface, modeled as zero-charge metal adatoms, only through the sulfur atom. This result can be important for the use of these ligand/metal nanohybrids in the process of drug delivery. Moreover, functionalized gold nanoparticles are able to promote the Raman enhancement in the red-light region as well as in the near-infrared, where generally no fluorescence emission occurs. This paves the way for the use of these nanosystems in a biological environment, even in vivo experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff", University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy. muniz@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muniz-Miranda
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences (DSCG), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMORE), Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Muniz-Miranda
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences (DSCG), University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UniMORE), Via Campi 103, 41125 Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedone
mesh_terms: D017979:Gold Colloid / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008713:Methimazole / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman
chemical_list: D017979:Gold Colloid; D008713:Methimazole