ABSTRACT
A novel method for the dynamic determination of cetirizine dihydrochloride in urine using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has been developed. Comparison of SERS activities between gold and silver colloid was made based on the analysis of the transmission electron micrographs and the SERS spectra, revealing that silver colloid is much more efficient on the signal enhancement performance. The primary sites of the adsorption on the nanoparticle surface were represented by the feature peaks of piperazine at ca. 1050 cm−1 and phenyl rings at ca. 1630 cm−1, respectively. The best signal response was extracted at pH 7 at the Cl−:Ag+ molar ratio of 2:1. The matrix effect was eliminated by subtracting the spectral contribution of the blank urine from the sample spectra. Sample preparation procedures were minimized. Quantification could be simply accomplished on the predicted versus actual concentration curve, within the Raman shift range from 500 to 2500 cm−1. Neither modeling nor complicate calculation was required. The method was shown to be specific and applicable for drug urine concentration monitoring in situ.