Surface enhanced Raman scattering study of the antioxidant alkaloid boldine using prismatic silver nanoparticles

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology and Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Boldine is an antioxidant alkaloid with potential therapeutic applications.
• Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful technique for molecular analysis.
• Silver nanoparticles (NPs) are effective SERS substrates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the use of prismatic silver nanoparticles (PNps) for SERS analysis of boldine.
• To characterize the synthesized PNps and quasi-spherical silver nanoparticles (QsNps).
• To determine the orientation and interactions of boldine adsorbed on silver surfaces.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis and characterization of PNps and QsNps using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and zeta potential measurements.
• Acquisition of Raman and Infrared (IR) spectra of boldine.
• Theoretical calculations to model boldine adsorption on silver surfaces.

Main Results:

• Characterization confirmed the properties of synthesized silver nanoparticles.
• SERS measurements provided detailed spectral information of boldine.
• Theoretical models predicted a nearly coplanar orientation of the boldine molecule on the silver surface with non-bonded electrostatic interactions.

Conclusions:

• PNps are suitable for SERS studies of boldine.
• The study elucidates the adsorption behavior of boldine on silver surfaces.
• This research contributes to the understanding of alkaloid analysis using SERS.