Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is powerful for structural characterization of biomolecules under physiological condition. Owing to its high sensitivity and selectivity, SERS is useful for probing intrinsic structural information of proteins and is attracting increasing attention in biophysics, bioanalytical chemistry, and biomedicine. This review starts with a brief introduction of SERS theories and SERS methodology of protein structural characterization. SERS-active materials, related synthetic approaches, and strategies for protein-material assemblies are outlined and discussed, followed by detailed discussion of SERS spectroscopy of proteins with and without cofactors. Recent applications and advances of protein SERS in biomarker detection, cell analysis, and pathogen discrimination are then highlighted, and the spectral reproducibility and limitations are critically discussed. The review ends with a conclusion and a discussion of current challenges and perspectives of promising directions.

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This research aimed to characterize the physical, chemical properties of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash and investigate the leaching of heavy metals during Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) process. To understand the leaching behavior, concentrations of heavy metals, chloride, sulfate and calcium at various leaching time was monitored together with pH of the leaching solution. Results showed that chemical compositions of fly ashes led to differences in leaching environment. For the two fly ashes under study, one resulted in a leaching environment of pH of 10-12 while the other had a pH about 6-7. Based on pH, anions and cations concentrations, Minteq software was employed to investigate the speciation of heavy metals. Results showed that the shift in precipitation/dissolution balance of carbonate and hydroxides of heavy metals could explain the fluctuation in metal concentrations during the leaching process. This indicates that leaching was probably controlled by these reactions. On the other hand, addition of EDTA changed the controlling reactions. Chelating reactions between heavy metals and EDTA led to much higher leaching toxicity of heavy metals showing that presence of chelating organics in natural environment may facilitate heavy metal leaching.

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