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Yeast Cytochrome c Monolayer on Flat and Nanostructured Gold Films Studied by UV–Vis Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

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Abstract

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) has been used to investigate the adsorption of yeast cytochrome c (YCC) on gold films. YCC is a prototypical molecular system to evaluate the sensitivity and reliability of optical methods in probing conformational changes upon adsorption at surfaces. Measurements have been performed in situ in aqueous solutions at room temperature. We have applied to monolayer-thick YCC films the same scheme of analysis of SE spectra used in our recent works on thiolate self-assembled monolayers on gold, exploiting the so-called δΨ and δΔ difference spectra. A comparison between δΨ and δΔ spectra obtained from YCC adsorption on flat and cluster-assembled nanostructured gold films, obtained by supersonic cluster beam deposition is proposed. For both kinds of substrate δΨ and δΔ, difference spectra show well-defined features related to molecular optical absorptions typical of the so-called heme group, in particular the Soret band at about 410 nm. These features appear in the same position found for molecules in solution, suggesting that YCC native conformation is maintained upon adsorption also in the case of a substrate with typical roughness at the nanoscale.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Valentina Locaso and Tethis Srl (Milano) for the nanostructured gold films fabrication. We also acknowledge Ennio Vigo for technical assistance and Dr. Alessandra Pesce for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNISM and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genova, Italy

    Chiara Toccafondi, Giulia Maidecchi, Amanda Penco, Ornella Cavalleri & Maurizio Canepa

  2. Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego 30, 16163, Genova, Italy

    Mirko Prato

  3. Tethis S. p. A., Via Franco Russoli 3, 20143, Milan, Italy

    Emanuele Barborini & Simone Vinati

  4. CNR-SPIN, Corso F.M. Perrone 24, 16152, Genova, Italy

    Francesco Bisio

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  1. Chiara Toccafondi
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  2. Mirko Prato
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  9. Maurizio Canepa
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Correspondence to Chiara Toccafondi.

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Toccafondi, C., Prato, M., Barborini, E. et al. Yeast Cytochrome c Monolayer on Flat and Nanostructured Gold Films Studied by UV–Vis Spectroscopic Ellipsometry. BioNanoSci. 1, 210–217 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-011-0024-3

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