Versatile Synthesis of Functional Gold Nanoparticles: Grafting Polymers From and Onto

Functionalized gold nanoparticles have been prepared in an organic solvent by a two-phase reduction method in ethyl acetate and water using bis(6-hydroxyhexyl) disulfide bis(2-bromoisobutyl) ester, bis(6-acetyloxyhexyl) disulfide, and bis(5-carboxypentyl) disulfide bis(pentafluorophenyl) ester as stabilizing ligands. This procedure features the advantages that no phase transfer agent was necessary during the preparation of the gold nanoparticles and that the reducing conditions were mild enough to utilize functional disulfide ligands. The obtained gold nanoparticles with typical sizes between 2 and 5 nm could be precipitated and redispersed without any irreversible aggregation. Using these nanoparticles the stimuli-responsive polymers poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) and poly( N -cyclopropylacrylamide) could be grafted from the surface. Also, the grafting of polymers onto gold nanoparticles could be demonstrated with nanoparticles featuring pentafluorophenyl ester groups. The reactive character of gold nanoparticles featuring a pentafluorophenyl ester groups on the surface could also be applied in the preparation of multilayers on the basis of covalent bonds between the gold nanoparticles and polyallylamine.