SERS studies of the adsorption of guanine derivatives on gold colloidal nanoparticles

Surface enhanced Raman scattering spectra of guanine, guanosine and 2'-deoxyguanosine adsorbed on gold colloidal nanoparticles were obtained. From the striking similarity of the SERS spectra of these compounds, it can be evidenced that guanosine and 2'-deoxyguanosine adsorb on gold nanoparticles through the guanine moiety. The molecular sites involved in the interaction with the gold surface are the same for the 3 compounds: the oxygen of the carbonilic group and the N(7) atom. Guanine, guanosine and 2'-deoxyguanosine adsorb on the gold substrates with a tilted orientation with respect to the metal surface. SERS data were interpreted taking into account density functional theoretical (DFT) calculations of guanine.