Acetanilide mediated reversible assembly and disassembly of Au nanoparticles

Herein we report the generation of Au nanoparticles (NPs) by sparingly soluble acetanilide in water. We also report the formation of linear chain-like superstructures of self-assembled Au NPs, in the presence of excess acetanilide. This was achieved in two different ways. In the first method, acetanilide was added, with increasing concentration, into aqueous HAuCl(4) to produce Au NPs as well as for the formation of assembly, which varied according to the concentration of acetanilide. The other route involved formation of spherical Au NPs at the lowest concentration of acetanilide, which was followed by the formation of assembly of various lengths upon further addition of variable amount of acetanilide. The assemblies were stable in aqueous solution for days with characteristic UV-vis absorption spectra consisting of two peaks. While the wavelength of the first peak remained the same, the position of the second peak changed to longer wavelength with increasing acetanilide concentration. Interestingly, the linear chain-like arrays could be broken into individual particles by first dilution of the solution concentration followed by treatment with ultrasonic waves. The individual Au NPs again formed linear chain-like arrays upon addition of excess acetanilide.