Abstract

Ethyl carbamate (EC), a potential carcinogen to humans, can be formed during the fermentation and storage stages of alcoholic beverages. Herein, it is necessary to develop a sensitive and reliable method to qualitative and quantitative determine EC. In this work, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was reported to quantitative detection of EC. The flower-shaped silver nanoparticle substrates were selected as SERS test platform. The strongest and reproducible characteristic band at 857 cm^-1 was chosen for establishing linear regression model in the concentrations ranging from 10^-5 to 10^-9 M, which effectively extended the scope of the application of quantitative model for determination EC. Furthermore, the real alcoholic beverage was tested to verify the feasibility and reliability of the method.

© 2018 The Author(s)