Issue 17, 2019

One-step synthesis and XPS investigations of chiral NHC–Au(0)/Au(i) nanoparticles

Abstract

Although N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been demonstrated as suitable ligands for the stabilisation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through a variety of methods, the manner in which such AuNPs form is yet to be fully elucidated. We report a simple and fast one-step synthesis of uniform chiral (L/D)-histidin-2-ylidene stabilised gold nanoparticles using the organometallic Au(I) complex as a well defined starting material. The resulting nanoparticles have an average size of 2.35 ± 0.43 nm for the L analog whereas an average size of 2.25 ± 0.39 nm was found for the D analog. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses reveal the presence of Au(I) and Au(0) in all NHC stabilised AuNPs. In contrast, measured X-ray photoelectron spectra of dodecanethiol protected gold nanoparticles showed only the presence of a Au(0) species. This observation leads us to postulate that AuNPs synthesised from organometallic NHC–Au(I) complexes exhibit a monolayer of Au(I) surrounding a Au(0) core. This work highlights the importance of synthetic method choice for NHC-stabilized AuNPs, as this could determine Au oxidation states and resulting AuNP properties such as catalytic activities and stabilities.

Graphical abstract: One-step synthesis and XPS investigations of chiral NHC–Au(0)/Au(i) nanoparticles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Jan 2019
Accepted
07 Apr 2019
First published
08 Apr 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2019,11, 8327-8333

One-step synthesis and XPS investigations of chiral NHC–Au(0)/Au(I) nanoparticles

A. J. Young, M. Sauer, G. M. D. M. Rubio, A. Sato, A. Foelske, C. J. Serpell, J. M. Chin and M. R. Reithofer, Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 8327 DOI: 10.1039/C9NR00905A

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