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Cucurbit[8]uril-mediated SERS plasmonic nanostructures with sub-nanometer gap for the identification and determination of estrogens

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Abstract

The SERS intensity of analytes is primarily influenced by the density and distribution of hotspots, which are often difficult to manipulate or regulate. In this study, cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]), a kind of rigid macrocyclic molecule, was introduced to achieve ~ 1-nm nanogap between gold nanoparticles to increase the density of SERS hotspots. Three kinds of estrogens (estrone (E1), bisphenol A (BPA), and hexestrol (DES)) which are molecules with weak SERS signals were targeted in the hotspots by CB[8] to further improve the sensitivity and selectivity of SERS. It was demonstrated that CB[8] can link gold nanoparticles together through carbonyl groups. In addition, the host–guest interaction of CB[8] and estrogens was proved from the nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen and infrared spectra. In the presence of CB[8], the SERS intensities of E1, BPA, and DES were increased to 19-fold, 74-fold, and 4-fold, respectively, and the LOD is 3.75 µM, 1.19 µM, and 8.26 µM, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed SERS method was applied to actual milk sample analysis with recoveries of E1 (85.0 ~ 112.8%), BPA (83.0 ~ 103.7%), and DES (62.6 ~ 132.0%). It is expected that the proposed signal enlarging strategy can be applied to  other analytes after further development.

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Funding

The Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LQ17B050002) and Analysis and Measurement Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LGC21B050004) supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry-Synthesis Technology, College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China

    Yuanjie Teng, Xin Li, Yingxin Chen & Pei Xu

  2. College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China

    Zaifa Pan, Kang Shao & Nan Sun

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  1. Yuanjie Teng
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  2. Xin Li
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  7. Nan Sun
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Correspondence to Yuanjie Teng or Nan Sun.

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Teng, Y., Li, X., Chen, Y. et al. Cucurbit[8]uril-mediated SERS plasmonic nanostructures with sub-nanometer gap for the identification and determination of estrogens. Microchim Acta 190, 185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05765-4

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