Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of Proteins: Implications in Drug Designing

In this review article we present a general overview of the recent progress in the newly developing area of the study of protein‐ligand interaction by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Since its first observation in 1977, SERS have been fast developing into an analytical tool for trace detection of molecular entities, particularly in the area of bio‐molecule sensing and characterization. Also, with the development of the ability to design a variety of plasmonic structures and to be able to control and tune their plasmonic properties, we have been able to use them as SERS substrates for probing complex materials. Here we describe yet another application of SERS, mainly protein‐ligand interaction and its future into drug designing. We start with a general description of the SERS phenomenon. Subsequently we discuss the key spectral features of amino acids, peptides and proteins, and their structural aspects that can be elucidated from the SERS spectra. In the final sections we discuss the application of SERS to the study protein‐ligand interaction and its potential role in the area of drug designing.