Combinatorial design of polymeric stabilizers for size-controlled synthesis of monodisperse gold nanoparticles in water

POLY 97

Zhenxin Wang, Bien Tan, bien71@liverpool.ac.uk, Irshad Hussain, irshadnibge@yahoo.com, Nicolas Schaeffer, nicolass@liverpool.ac.uk, Mathias Brust, m.brust@liv.ac.uk, and Andrew I. Cooper, aicooper@liv.ac.uk. Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 3BX, United Kingdom
We describe here a versatile new methodology for the one-step aqueous preparation of highly monodisperse gold nanoparticles with diameters below 5 nm using thioether- and thiol-functionalized polymer ligands. It was shown that poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were the most effective stabilizing polymers and that relatively low molar mass ligands (~2500 g/mol) gave rise to the narrowest particle size distributions. Particle uniformity and colloidal stability to changes in ionic strength and pH were strongly affected by small changes in the hydrophobicity of the ligand end-group. Multidentate thiol-terminated ligands were produced by employing dithiols and tetrathiols as chain transfer agents and these ligands gave rise to particles with unprecedented control over particle size and enhanced colloidal stability.

 

General Papers: Polymers in Nanotechnology
1:00 PM-5:00 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2007 Westin Boston Waterfront -- Douglas, Oral

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 234th ACS National Meeting, Boston, MA, August 19-23, 2007