IN-SITU SURFACE-ENHANCED RESONANCE RAMAN-SCATTERING ANALYSIS OF A REACTIVE DYE COVALENTLY BOUND TO COTTON

An in situ surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) procedu re is described for the analysis of a reactive dye covalently bound to a single strand of a cotton fibre. This procedure can be completed in 5 h, whereas an alternative enzyme digestion method takes approximate ly 21 h. These two fibre preparation methods give similar spectra from picogram quantities of dye present on a 2-5 mm length of fibre. The i n situ nature of the analysis and the smalt sample size make this meth od particularly suitable for forensic applications.