A facile synthesis of aliphatic thiol surfactant with tunable length as a stabilizer of gold nanoparticles in organic solvents

Three new aliphatic thiol surfactants were synthesized by reacting alkyl bromide with hexamethyldisilathiane under a mild condition. This approach provides an easy access for the direct synthesis of various different length thiol surfactants which play a crucial role in tuning the properties of gold nanoparticles. Gold nanoparticles encapsulated with one of our synthetic thiols were prepared and well characterized by H NMR, UV–vis, FT-IR, and TEM. The hybrid nanoparticles are very stable in both organic solvents and the solid state.

Graphical abstractGold nanoparticles encapsulated with the thiol surfactants with tunable length are stable in both organic solvents and the solid state.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide