Martínez-Calvo, MiguelGuerrini, LucaRodríguez Villar, JéssicaÁlvarez Puebla, Ramón A.Mascareñas Cid, José Luis2020-10-052021-08-102020J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2020, 11, 17, 7218–7223http://hdl.handle.net/10347/23369This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Martínez-Calvo, M.; Guerrini, L.; Rodríguez, J.; Álvarez Puebla, R. A.; Mascareñas, J. L. (2020), Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Detection of Nucleic Acids exhibiting Sterically Accessible Guanines using Ruthenium-polypyridyl Reagents. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 11: 7218–7223, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02148. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with ACS Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.Here, we report the application of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy as a rapid and practical tool for assessing the formation of coordinative adducts between nucleic acid guanines and ruthenium polypyridyl reagents. The technology provides a practical approach for the wash-free and quick identification of nucleic acid structures exhibiting sterically accessible guanines. This is demonstrated for the detection of a quadruplex-forming sequence present in the promoter region of the c-myc oncogene, which exhibits a nonpaired, reactive guanine at a flanking position of the G-quartetsengCopyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with American Chemical Society Terms and Conditions for self-archivingRutheniumNucleic acidsGeneticsRaman spectroscopyGuaninejournal article10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c021481948-7185open access