9158
J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 9158–9164
Aromatic Amino Acids Providing Characteristic Motifs in the Raman and SERS Spectroscopy of Peptides Fang Wei,† Dongmao Zhang,‡ Naomi J. Halas,*,†,‡,§ and Jeffrey D. Hartgerink*,†,§ Department of Chemistry, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Department of Bioengineering, Rice UniVersity, 6100 Main Street, MS60, Houston, Texas 77005 ReceiVed: March 25, 2008; ReVised Manuscript ReceiVed: June 1, 2008
Raman and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopies (SERS) are potentially important tools in the characterization of biomolecules such as proteins and DNA. In this work, SERS spectra of three cysteine-containing aromatic peptides: tryptophan-cysteine, tyrosine-cysteine, and phenylalanine-cysteine, bound to Au nanoshell substrates, were obtained, and compared to their respective normal Raman spectra. While the linewidths of the SERS peaks are significantly broadened (up to 70%), no significant spectral shifts (
