Benzylthioether stabilized gold nanoparticles. towards novel hybrid superstructures

In view of future applications in the field of so-called 'Single Electronics', a set of linear and dendritic benzyl-thioether ligands for the ligand controlled synthesis and surface functionalization of gold nanoparticles was developed. Gold nanoparticles were synthesized starting from soluble gold(III) precursors in a two-phase method in the presence of the thioether molecules. The properties of the thioether ligands concerning the sizes as well as the stability and dispersity of gold nanoparticles were thereby investigated and it was found that more stable and monodisperse particles can be produced with increasing number of thioether moieties in the ligand molecules. Furthermore, it was shown that the size and surface functionalization of gold nanoparticles can be controlled by varying the size and shape of the thioether ligands. Monofunctionalized thioether ligands were synthesized with azide, alkyne or halide groups, allowing for defined functionalization of gold nanoparticles. Using the oxidative diacetylene formation, it was shown that thioether coated gold nanoparticles can be employed as synthetic building blocks or 'artificial molecules' for the formation of nanoparticle superstructures by standard wet synthetic chemistry.