Applications of Surface enhanced Spectroscopic Techniques to Biosystems

摘要

The potential of surface enhanced spectroscopy consists in the detection of very small but specific structures of biomaterials. Surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) yields fingerprint information on the biomaterials. Electronic interactions between individual groups in the molecule are detected by means of surface enhanced fluorescence (SEF). During the investigation of biomembranes with SEIRA a tenfold intensity enhancement could be obtained. Enhancement factors greater than 100 can be achieved with SEF. Enhancement is considerably influenced by the properties of the metal cluster structure. Biomembranes formed from vesicles containing the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor were spectroscopically characterized. The adsorption of the vesicles on Ge- and Ag surfaces was investigated. The metal cluster structure was optimized in order to obtain high intensity enhancement factors.