Effect of concentration and pH on the surface-enhanced Raman scattering of captopril on nano-colloidal silver surface

In this report, Raman and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectra of captopril are studied in detail. Herein, the Raman bands are assigned by the density functional theory (DFT) calculations and potential energy distributions (PED) based on internal coordinates of the molecule, which are found to be in good agree with the experimental values. Furthermore, the concentration and pH dependence of the SERS intensity of the molecule is discussed. By analyzing the intensities variation of SERS bands of the different concentrations of captopril solution, it can be concluded that the molecules orientation adsorbed on the silver nanoparticles surface change with the change of the concentrations. The variation of SERS spectra of captopril with the change of pH suggests that the interaction among the adsorbates with Ag cluster depend on the protonated state of the adsorbate and the aggregation of silver nanoparticles.

► The captopril was assigned by the assistance of PED and DFT.
► The adsorption behavior of captopril on silver surface was studied.
► Concentration and pH-dependent SERS spectra of captopril molecule adsorbed on nano-colloidal silver surface were studied.