5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) is a useful indicator of thermal damage degree and freshness of milk. It is of great importance to develop simple, rapid and accurate analytical methods for the sensitive detection of 5-HMF in milk and milk-based products. In this work, surface-enhance Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was used for rapid determination of 5-HMF in processed cheese by colloidal Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) substrate synthesized by the classical solvothermal reduction method. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to determine the vibration assignments of 5-HMF and the surface enhancement effect of AuNPs substrate. The results found that a good linear response on the AuNPs substrate for 5-HMF in the concentration range of 0.1–75 mM was established with the detection limit of 75 μM (S/N = 3). Furthermore, the present method could be applied to the determination of 5-HMF in a cheese real sample which revealed its promising application in food safety and analysis.

5-羟甲基糠醛 (5-HMF) 是衡量牛奶热损伤程度和新鲜度的有用指标。开发简单、快速和准确的分析方法对牛奶和奶制品中的 5-HMF 进行灵敏检测具有重要意义。在这项工作中，表面增强拉曼光谱 (SERS) 用于通过经典溶剂热还原法合成的胶体金纳米颗粒 (AuNPs) 底物快速测定加工奶酪中的 5-HMF。进行密度泛函理论 (DFT) 计算以确定 5-HMF 的振动分配和 AuNPs 衬底的表面增强效应。结果发现，AuNPs 底物对 5-HMF 在 0.1-75 mM 浓度范围内建立了良好的线性响应，检测限为 75 μM（S/N = 3）。此外，