Surface enhanced vibrational spectra of thymine

Surface-enhanced vibrational spectroscopy (SEVS) is discussed using 5-methyluracil (thymine) as a model compound. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and surface-enhanced infrared (SEIR) are reported and a characterization of thymine adsorbed onto silver island films is provided. The thymine SERS spectra obtained using silver colloids, silver roughened electrodes and silver island films are remarkably different due to several binding possibilities of thymine during chemical adsorption onto a silver surface. It is shown that laser induced photo dissociation may lead to further changes in the recorded spectra of the adsorbate. The surface enhanced-infrared (SEIR) spectra of thymine on silver island are reported here for the first time. The infrared spectra of thymine films were also been obtained to help the assignment of molecular vibrations in the surface enhanced spectra. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.