Chemical segregation and reduction of Raman background interference using drop coating deposition

A new application of the recently described drop coating deposition Raman (DCDR) method facilitates the segregation and independent spectral characterization of mixture components. The quality of the normal (un-enhanced) Raman spectra are significantly improved as a result of reduced spectral interference from fluorescent impurities and buffer compounds. Fluorescence of commercial amino acid (O-phospho-L-serine) and protein (myoglobin) samples is reduced by over an order of magnitude using DCDR, more effectively than prolonged photo-bleaching. Furthermore, DCDR is used to obtain high-quality Raman spectra of proteins, lysozyme, and insulin, derived from solutions with up to 1000-fold excess buffer concentration. Possible thermodynamic and kinetic contributions to the observed segregation phenomena are discussed.