New material for surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Advanced Fuel Research, Inc., East Hartford, CT Innovation The Company has developed a new material to promote surface-enhanced Raman (SER) scattering. The new material consists of silver nanoparticles embedded in a porous sol-gel glass, which increases Raman scattering by 1 million times or more. This allows detection of chemicals at physiological concentrations that would assist in monitoring astronaut health. Accomplishments The company has developed the new material into a product in just three years. The product: "Simple SERS Sample Vials" consists of glass vials internally coated with the SER active material. This product provides molecular structure information allowing researchers to both identify and quantify chemicals at part-per-million to part-per-billion concentrations. The silver-doped sol-gel vials provide a number of advantages over previously developed SER active materials: there is virtually no sample preparation required (samples do not have to pre-mixed, dried or dissolved in specific solvents or reagents). all common solvents can be used, including water from pH 1 to 10, signals appear in less than 1 second, the sol-gels are active for 1 year or more, the vials can be used with any commercial Raman spectrometer, and, most importantly, the SER activity can be duplicated from vial-to-vial allowing reproducible and quantitative measurements. Commercialization Our "Simple SERS Sample Vials" represent our first product employing the patent pending sol-gel coating. They were introduced to market in March at the Pittsburgh Conference and have generated 18 sales in the four months following. Vials have been sold to pharmaceutical and Biotech Companies, Government Agencies, and Universities. Advanced Fuel Research, Inc. has formed Real-Time Analyzers to market the vials and Raman spectrometers. AFR is pleased to announce that its commercial spin-off company, On-Line Technologies, Inc. is being acquired by MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI) in a merger worth more than $22 million. The merger agreement was signed on March 15, 2001 and the transaction will close on April 27, The acquisition will provide the resources to continue development of On-Line's products with access to worldwide sales, distribution, and services. Government/Science Applications The SER active sol-gels were developed for NASA to provide trace chemical analysis with potential applications for life support systems through continuous water quality monitoring and for astronaut health assessment through urine and blood analysis. The first published SER spectra of urine and several physiologically important chemicals strongly support the potential of developing a "Smart Toilet" based on this technology. Successful measurements of the DNA bases and many amino acids suggest employing this technology also for exobiology. The ability to measure extremely low concentrations of these bio-chemicals on Mars, Europa or one of several comets would enhance the search for extraterrestrial life. The SER active sol-gel material is currently being explored for a number of other trace chemical applications, including: detecting and identifying chemical and biological warfare agents detecting and identifying chemical contaminants in water (groundwater and water supplies) detecting and identifying illicit drugs on surfaces identifying and quantifying new pharmaceuticals and metabolites identifying molecular structures in drug discovery detecting and quantifying bio-chemicals indicative of disease in urine Points of Contact: - NASA: Jane I Fox, - Advanced Fuel Research, Inc. S. Farquharson STTR Phase II; NAS Johnson Space Center Date of Update: 05/01/01 Success Story 09-41