Mesoscopic arrays of gold nanostructures

POLY 307

Eugene R. Zubarev, EZ@rice.edu, Department of Chemistry, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005
We describe the synthesis of spherical and rod-like nanostructures of gold coated with organic molecules. Our strategy involves the preparation of gold clusters passivated with a functional thiol 4-mercaptophenol, which allows for coupling of carboxyl-terminated molecules under mild esterification conditions. This grafting-to approach results in a surprisingly high grafting density which is about 1.9 chains/nm2 and 1.35 chains/nm2 for nanoparticles and nanorods, respectively. The presence of multiple organic arms makes gold nanostructures soluble in a variety of solvents and influences their aggregation in solution and in the solid-state.