碳化是表面增强拉曼光谱中难以避免的干扰现象,特别是对于活性有机和生物分子的检测。作为一种最常用的探针分子,吡啶同样也存在碳化的问题。然而,作者发现通过引入SnCl2,可以有效地抑制表面增强拉曼光谱测定中吡啶分子的碳化现象。该方法操作简单,所引入的SnCl2只在谱图低波段处出现少而易区分的特征峰,不干扰被测样品的光谱分析。有别于文献中所采用的真空、惰性气氛、低温和低激光功率等物理方法,此法是解决碳化问题的一种崭新的化学方法,可望应用于其他易碳化的有机和生物分子的表面增强拉曼光谱检测。
Laser carbonization is an inherent problem frequently encountered in the measurements of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), especially for the reactive molecules. Pyridine (Py) is one of such examples though it is a common molecule as probe in the SERS studies. The introduction of SnCl2, which has few Raman peaks at low frequency, effectively restrains the pyridine from carbonization. The findings here provide a new convenient chemical way to improve the routine SERS analysis of reactive organic/bio-molecules instead of physical ones reported in the literature like vacuum, inert atmosphere, low temperature, low laser power, and so on. It is expected that this method is also applicable in the SERS study of other vulnerable organic/bio-molecules.