Fast detection of paracetamol on a gold nanoparticle-chitosan substrate by SERS

A fast method for detecting pharmaceutical drugs, such as paracetamol, by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) using a gold nanoparticle substrate was studied. Gold nanoparticles were synthesized using chitosan (AuNP-chitosan) as a reductant and capping agent and subsequently deposited on glass slides as a thin film. The SERS performance of AuNP-chitosan films was evaluated using methylene blue (MB, 10(-6) mol L-1) as a SERS probe molecule. The method is based on drop-drying an analyte solution (paracetamol, 10(-3) mol L-1) onto a substrate surface and subsequently analyzing by Raman spectroscopy. The spectra were obtained in 10 seconds with two accumulations and exhibit a high signal-to-noise ratio. This preliminary study supports the AuNP-chitosan substrate as a SERS sensor, for a convenient analytical method for detection of paracetamol and other pharmaceutical drug molecules.