Monofunctional gold nanoparticles and nanoparticle/polymer hybrid materials

POLY 304

Qun Huo, qhuo@mail.ucf.edu1, Qiu Dai1, and Jianhua Zou2. (1) Nanoscience Technology Center and Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 422, Orlando, FL 32826, (2) Nanoscience Technology Center and Chemistry, University of Central Florida, 12424 Research Parkway Suite 422, Orlando, FL 32826
A nanoparticle building block with well-defined structure and chemical functionality is vital for achieving a precise control on the nanoparticle assemblies. Recently our group developed a synthetic method to prepare monofunctional gold nanoparticles, nanoparticles that contain a single chemical functional group on the surface. This method is based on a "catch-and-release" mechanism. Bifunctional thiol ligands were first immobilized on a polymer support with controlled loading density. Gold nanoparticles were then attached to the polymer-bound thiol ligands. When the density of the thiol ligands immobilized on the polymer support is low enough, a one-to-one place exchange reaction occurred between gold nanoparticles and polymer-bound ligands. After cleaving the product from polymer beads, gold nanoparticles with a single carboxyl group on the surface were obtained. Using these molecular nanobuilding blocks, we synthesized sophisticated nanoparticle/polymer hybrid materials such as “nanonecklace”, “nanochains” and nanoparticle clusters from very simple and traditional chemical reactions.