Surface Enhanced Raman Spectra and Theoretical Study of an Organophosphate Malathion

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is an established technique for the rapid and sensitive analysis of chemicals, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. The aim of this work is to develop sensitive and cost effective SERS substrates for pesticide detection using modified mirror reaction and physical deposition method. The prepared substrates were examined using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). The prepared slides were then used to detect an organophosphate pesticide, Malathion. The available simple geometry of Malathion was optimized using 6-311++G(d, p) basis set of Gaussian 09 software. The experimental Raman spectra, Surface Enhanced Raman spectra and theoretically computed wavenumbers are compared and the results are presented briefly.