Quantification of Resveratrol in Red Wine using Liquid Chromatography—Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (LC-SERS)

Resveratrol is a stilbenol molecule found in red wine that may have many health benefiting properties, such as preventing inflammation in blood vessels. This metabolite is found naturally in grapes and is one of the reasons why red wine is promoted as healthy enough to drink a glass every day. This project aimed to quantify the amount of resveratrol in a sample of red wine using LC-SERS. SERS is a non-destructive quantitative method that measures the inelastic scattering of light, where the signal is enhanced by adsorbing the sample on a metal nanostructure. For this project, a thermally evaporated silver substrate placed in a homemade flow cell for SERS detection. Red wine was separated through by using reverse phase chromatography before flowing into the flow cell where the SERS signal was obtained. A calibration curve of resveratrol was made by flowing different concentrations of resveratrol though the flow cell. Once that was achieved, the resveratrol was injected into the HPLC to determine the retention time. By separating resveratrol from the other components of red wine, the SERS signal can be compared to the reference spectrum for identification and intensity provides quantitative information. Data analysis took place on MATLAB, using airPLS as a background subtraction method and Pearson correlation to compare sample spectra with a reference spectrum.No embargoAcademic Major: Pharmaceutical Science