1. A method for producing a profile identifying a microorganism based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), comprising:
(a) placing the microorganism on a SERS-active substrate;
(b) mounting the microorganism with a mounting solution;
(c) obtaining a SERS spectrum of the microorganism in step (b); and
(d) analyzing the SERS spectrum to produce a profile of the microorganism.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SERS-active substrate is a solid film embedded or covered with nanoparticles.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the nanoparticles are selected from the group consisting of Au, Ag, Cu, Pt, AgAu, PtAu, CuAu coreshell and alloy particles.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mounting solution keeps from moving and maintains the microorganism alive in an aqueous environment.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mounting solution is selected from the group consisting of agarose gel and glycerol.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile is applied to identification of microorganism with species or strains.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile is produced by means of Pattern Recognition System.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the microorganism is a bacterium, a fungus, or a cell.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the SERS spectrum differentiates a Gram-positive bacterium from a Gram-negative bacterium.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the discriminative points are range from Raman Shift 500 cm\u22121 to 900 cm\u22121 and from 1100 cm\u22121 to 1500 cm\u22121.
11. The method of claim 9, which further comprises a method comparing the SERS spectrum of the unknown bacterium with an already known one.
12. A method for detecting morphology alteration of a microorganism due to an antimicrobial agent or an infectious agent based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), comprising:
(a) placing the microorganism on a SERS-active substrate;
(b) mounting the microorganism with a mounting solution;
(c) treating the microorganism with a pharmaceutically effective amount of the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent;
(d) obtaining a SERS spectrum of the microorganism in step (c); and
(e) identifying the effect of the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent by at least one new peak in the SERS spectrum in step (d) compared to a SERS spectrum of a control sample, wherein the control sample is not treated with the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the SERS-active substrate is a solid film embedded or covered with nanoparticles.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the mounting solution keeps the microorganism from moving and maintains the microorganism alive in an aqueous environment.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the mounting solution is selected from the group consisting of agarose gel and glycerol.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the microorganism is a bacterium, a fungus, or a cell.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the antimicrobial agent is selected from the group consisting of ampicillin, bacitracin, cephalosporin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, hygromycin, kanamycin, methotrexate, neomycin, penicillin, polymynix, sulfonamide, tetracycline and zeocine.
18. The method of claim 12, wherein the infectious agent is a virus or an infectious bacterium.
19. The method of claim 12, which is applied to development and screening of new antibiotics.
20. The method of claim 12, which is applied to predicting the antibiotic mechanism of an antimicrobial agent or an infectious agent by examining where the change of relative intensity happens in the SERS spectrum compared to a SERS spectrum of a control sample.
21. An apparatus for producing a profile of a microorganism based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), comprising:
(a) means of placing the microorganism on a SERS-active substrate;
(b) means of mounting the microorganism;
(c) means of obtaining a SERS spectrum of the microorganism in step (b); and
(d) means of analyzing the SERS spectrum to produce a profile of the microorganism.
22. An apparatus for detecting morphology alteration of a microorganism due to an antimicrobial agent or an infectious agent based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), comprising:
(a) means of placing the microorganism on a SERS-active substrate;
(b) means of mounting the microorganism;
(c) means of treating the microorganism with a pharmaceutically effective amount of the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent;
(d) means of obtaining a SERS spectrum of the microorganism in step (c); and
(e) means of identifying effect of the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent by investigating the signal alteration in the SERS spectrum in step (d) compared to a SERS spectrum of a control sample, wherein the control sample is not treated with the antimicrobial agent or the infectious agent.
23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the step (e) is carried out with the aids of Pattern Recognition System.
24. A method for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, comprising:
(a) placing the sample on a SERS-active substrate;
(b) mounting the microorganism with a mounting solution;
(c) obtaining a SERS spectrum of the sample in step (b);
(d) analyzing the SERS spectrum to produce a profile of the sample; and
(e) comparing the SERS spectrum of the sample with the SERS spectrum of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the sample is blood, plasma, serum, phlegm, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, pleura fluid or tissue fluid.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A process for reacting glycolaldehyde with an aminating agent in the presence of hydrogen and of a catalyst, the catalyst being activated by reducing a catalyst precursor or by reducing a passivated catalyst, which comprises effecting the reaction in the presence of a solvent and contacting the glycolaldehyde with the activated catalyst, wherein the catalyst precursor comprises, as catalytically active components, one or more oxygen compound of Ni, Co andor Cu.
2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the catalyst used comprises less than 0.4 mole percent of noble metal atoms selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, gold and mercury.
3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the reaction is performed at a temperature of 15 to 350\xb0 C.
4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the reaction is performed at a pressure of 10 to 350 bar.
5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the solvent is THF or water.
6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the activated catalyst has a degree of reduction of 30% or more.
7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the activated catalyst which has been prepared by reducing a passivated catalyst has, after the activation, a degree of reduction which is at least 2% greater than the degree of reduction of the passivated catalyst.
8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the activated catalyst is handled under inert conditions during and after the reduction until the contacting with glycolaldehyde.
9. A process for reacting glycolaldehyde with an aminating agent in the presence of hydrogen and of a catalyst, the catalyst being activated by reducing a catalyst precursor or by reducing a passivated catalyst, which comprises effecting the reaction in the presence of a solvent and contacting the glycolaldehyde with the activated catalyst, wherein the catalyst precursor comprises, as catalytically active components, one or more oxygen compounds of the metals of groups 8 andor 9 andor 10 andor 11 of the periodic table of the elements, and wherein the catalyst used comprises less than 0.4 mole percent of noble metal atoms selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, gold and mercury.