For surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), thiol containing molecules commonly form the self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) that facilitate sensing.  However, thiols have significant drawbacks that limit their viability in sensors such as low stability in oxidative conditions or extreme pHs.  Recently, N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) SAMs have been shown to circumvent a number of problematic issues that are known for thiol based SAMs.  Key limitations for the development of functionalized NHC SAMs for SERS is a lack of straightforward SAM preparation as well as understanding functional group tolerances for bifunctional NHCs that are necessary for sensing.  We present the first example of NHCs as a ligand platform for SERS.  The design, synthesis and characterization of bifunctional NHC-CO<sub>2</sub> adducts, which can functionalize surfaces in solvent-free conditions, are described.  The stability of the NHC ligands and post-synthetic functionalization are also studied in detail using SERS.

Synthesis of bifunctional NHC-CO<sub>2</sub> adducts for SERS-based sensing on gold

256th National Meeting (2018)

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Synthesis of bifunctional NHC-CO2 adducts for SERS-based sensing on gold

Synthesis of bifunctional NHC-CO₂ adducts for SERS-based sensing on gold