Fingerprinting and activity of sulpha drugs in Surface-enhanced Raman spectrometry on silver hydrosols

Surface-enhanced Raman spectrometry (SERS) of sulpha drugs on silver hydrosols is reported. The SERS active substrate, colloidal silver, was prepared by reduction of silver nitrate with sodium tetrahydroborate(III) at room temperature. Detection of trace amounts of the drugs was possible because of the presence of the sulphonamide group in the molecule. However, substituents near the sulphonamide group were shown to have a significant effect on the detectability of a given drug. The selectivity of SERS as an analytical technique is illustrated.