After more than 40
years, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)
stills attract much attention from chemists, not only because of the
synthesis of plasmonic nanostructures but also due to the several
simultaneous mechanisms which still remain unclear. One of the possibilities
for a better understanding of the SERS mechanisms is the utilization
of suitable inorganic complexes. The use of inorganic complexes makes
it possible to observe the two main SERS mechanisms (electromagnetic
and chemical) and to observe the intensification of Raman scattering
due to the resonance Raman effect. In this publication, the observation
of these mechanisms was possible utilizing an unpublished and very
interesting complex with two oxo–triruthenium acetate clusters
and an iron bis(terpyridine) in its structure (seven metals) and which
interacted with bare gold nanoparticles and shell-isolated gold nanoparticles
(SHIN), with a 1 nm silica shell. The utilization of SHIN allowed
to quench the SERS chemical mechanism and led to a spectrum where
iron–terpyridine peaks are absent and only the modes related
to [Ru3O] center were observed (due to enhancement by resonance
Raman, SERRS); it can be said that the the shell-isolated nanoparticles
enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SHINERRS) is observed. This
approach led to a perfect selection of SERS mechanisms never seen
before with any other molecule/complex. As can be seen in the UV–vis
spectrum, this complex has a strong band around 700 nm, which suggests
that silica shell enhances only surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering,
a long-distance phenomenon, different from chemical enhancement (a
short-distance phenomenon). Additionally, along with the Raman spectroscopy
results, cyclic voltammetry, UV–vis spectroelectrochemistry,
resonance Raman (using 568 and 676 nm lasers), and density functional
theory calculations of this new ruthenium cluster are presented.