Sensitive Glycoprotein Sandwich Assays by the Synergistic Effect of In Situ Generation of Raman Probes and Plasmonic Coupling of Ag Core-Au Satellite Nanostructures

Sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) assays of glycoproteins have been proposed using p-aminothiophenol (PATP)-embedded Ag core-Au satellite nanostructures modified with p-mercaptophenylboronic acid (PMBA) and the self-assembled monolayer of PMBA on a smooth gold-coated wafer. The apparent Raman probe PATP on the surfaces of the Ag cores underwent a photodimerization to generate 4,4'-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) in situ upon excitation of laser, and the in situ generated DMAB acted as the actual Raman probe with considerably strong SERS signals, which was further enhanced by the plasmonic coupling of the Ag core-Au satellite nanostructures due to the synergistic effect. The sandwich assays of glycoproteins showed high sensitivity and excellent selectivity against nonglycoproteins. The Ag core-Au satellite SERS nanostructures can be used for highly sensitive SERS assays of other analytes.