Abstract
A series of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was prepared in situ with different cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]s) in an alkaline aqueous solution. The nanoparticle sizes can be well controlled by CB[n]s (n = 5, 6, 7, 8) with different ring sizes. The packing densities of CB[5–8] and free surface area on AuNPs were determined. A direct relationship was found between the ring size and packing density of CB[n]s with respect to the AuNP-catalyzed reduction of 4-nitrophenol in the presence of NaBH4. The larger particle size and higher surface coverage of bigger CB[n]-capped AuNPs significantly decreased the catalytic activity. Furthermore, this work could lead to new applications that utilize AuNPs under an overlayer of CB[n]s for catalysis, sensing, and drug delivery.
Highlights
The morphology and size of the obtained nanocomposites were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
The ring-size of macrocycles did affect the sizes of nanoparticles in the synthesis, a finding consistent with the results reported by Scherman et al [24]
The packing densities of CB[n]s and free surface area binding site availabilities on CB[n]-AuNPs were systematically investigated for the first time
Summary
Chemisorptions, one of the major immobilization methods, has been applied to bring together macrocycles and nanoparticles. This is done by binding bifunctional linkers or using the affinity of thiol-containing molecules for noble metals [11,18,19,20]. As for cucurbit[n]urils, a family of macrocyclic cavitands encompassing glycoluril units, the oxygen atoms of the carbonylated ring are responsible for the interaction with metal nanoparticles [21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28] initially reported for flat gold surfaces [29]. The advantage of the electrostatic adsorption of CB[n]s on metal is the ease of usage
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