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Published on: August 19, 2012
Golden Opportunity: A Clickable Azide-Functionalized [Au25(SR)18]- Nanocluster Platform for Interfacial Surface
Praveen N Gunawardene1, John F Corrigan1, Mark S Workentin1
1Department of Chemistry and the Centre for Advanced Materials and Biomaterials Research , The University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario N6A 5B7 , Canada.
Abstract:
Ultrasmall atomically precise monolayer-protected gold thiolate nanoclusters are an intensely researched nanomaterial framework, but there is a lack of a system that can be directly synthesized and undergo interfacial surface chemistry. We report an [Au25(SCH2CH2-p-C6H4-N3)18]- nanocluster platform with azide moieties appended onto each surface ligand. The structure of this surface reactive cluster has been confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry and ultraviolet visible, infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. We show that all surface azide moieties are amenable to cluster-surface strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloaddition chemistry with a strained cyclooctyne, opening this as a new platform to allow functional, postassembly surface modifications to this very prominent nanocluster.
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