Abstract:
This thesis shows the utility of vibrational spectroscopy to study biomolecular interactions,
including protein-small molecule interactions which have important implications in the
drug development process and pharmaceutical industries. Vibrational spectroscopy can
be broadly divided into two complimentary techniques infrared (IR) and Raman. Raman
scattering captures vibrational modes of molecules, materials and biomolecules in an
aqueous medium with negligible interference from water. The inherent weak signal in
Raman scattering restricts its usage. This issue can be resolved through Surface-enhanced
Raman spectroscopy (SERS). One of the foremost advantages of SERS is the rich blend of high
sensitivity and chemical imaging capability, which vastly caters to the needs of ultra-trace
analysis of molecules. The vibrational spectroscopic techniques discussed in the chapters of
the thesis are mainly Raman spectroscopy, Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)
and visible Resonance Raman whose detailed descriptions are given in Chapter 1. An
introduction to plasmonic nanostructures for SERS, reported in the literature, have also
been provided. The thesis has been primarily divided into two parts. The first part describes
tailored plasmonic nano architectures as SERS sensors. The second part of the thesis
highlights the importance of SERS and Raman in the field of biology to understand different
molecular mechanisms involved when small molecules interact with different kinds of
proteins. The use of SERS is relatively new and unexplored in the area of protein-ligand
interactions. Trace detection of molecules, biomolecule sensing and characterization are
some other fields where SERS is advantageous.
