Highly stable water-soluble platinum nanoparticles stabilized by hydrophilic N-heterocyclic carbenes

Edwin A Baquero; Simon Tricard; Juan Carlos Flores; Ernesto de Jesús; Bruno Chaudret

doi:10.1002/anie.201407758

Highly stable water-soluble platinum nanoparticles stabilized by hydrophilic N-heterocyclic carbenes

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 Nov 24;53(48):13220-4. doi: 10.1002/anie.201407758. Epub 2014 Sep 29.

Authors

Edwin A Baquero¹, Simon Tricard, Juan Carlos Flores, Ernesto de Jesús, Bruno Chaudret

Affiliation

¹ Departamento de Química Orgánica y Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Alcalá, Campus Universitario, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain).

PMID: 25267410
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201407758

Abstract

Controlling the synthesis of stable metal nanoparticles in water is a current challenge in nanochemistry. The strategy presented herein uses sulfonated N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands to stabilize platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) in water, under air, for an indefinite time period. The particles were prepared by thermal decomposition of a preformed molecular Pt complex containing the NHC ligand and were then purified by dialysis and characterized by TEM, high-resolution TEM, and spectroscopic techniques. Solid-state NMR studies showed coordination of the carbene ligands to the nanoparticle surface and allowed the determination of a (13)C-(195)Pt coupling constant for the first time in a nanosystem (940 Hz). Additionally, in one case a novel structure was formed in which platinum(II) NHC complexes form a second coordination sphere around the nanoparticle.

Keywords: N-heterocyclic carbenes; nanoparticles; platinum; solid-state NMR spectroscopy; surface characterization.