The interaction of 4-(2-mercaptoethyl)pyridinium (HMEP+) hydrochloride with chromate was investigated
using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and molecular modeling. It was shown that HMEP+
on the gold surface attracted chromate to the SERS surface and that the adsorption of chromate onto the
substrate is described by a Frumkin isotherm. The ion-pair constant for the chromate−HMEP+ interaction
is more than 3 orders of magnitude larger than that measured for the HMEP+ interaction with perchlorate
ion. The high selectivity of HMEP+ for chromate is attributed to hydrogen bonding between chromate and
the HMEP+ moieties on the SERS surface.