Monomeric and Polymeric Mesoionic N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Tethered Silver Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Stability, and Catalytic Activity

In recent years, N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have garnered significant attention as promising alternatives to thiols to stabilize metallic nanoparticles and planar surfaces. While most studies thus far have focused on NHC-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), as an ideal platform to investigate the role of NHCs in stabilizing such nanoparticles, their ability to protect more unstable coinage metal nanoparticles, such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), has been largely overlooked. This is despite the fact that AgNPs possess a much more sensitive optical response that, upon their enhanced stability, can broaden their scope of application in various fields, including nanomedicine and catalysis. In this study, the synthesis and use of monomeric and polymeric mesoionic NHC-Ag(I) complexes as precursors to mono- and multidentate NHC-tethered AgNPs are reported. The polymeric analog was obtained by first synthesizing a polymer, containing 1,2,3-triazole repeat units, employing the copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition click polymerization of monomers containing diazide- and dialkyne functional groups. Subsequent quaternization of the triazole moieties and Ag insertion yielded the target NHC-Ag-containing polymer. Using this polymer as well as its monomeric analog as substrates, AgNPs with either catenated networks of NHCs or monomeric NHCs were fabricated by their reduction using borane-tert-butylamine complex. Our stability studies demonstrate that while monomeric NHCs impart some degree of stability to AgNPs, particularly at elevated temperatures in aqueous as well as organic medium, their polymeric analogs further enhance their stability in acidic environment (pH = 2) and against glutathione (3 mM), as an example of a biologically relevant thiol, in aqueous media. To highlight the application of these NHC-functionalized AgNPs in catalysis, we explore the aqueous phase reduction of methyl orange and 4-nitrophenol.

Hyper crosslinked polymer supported NHC stabilized gold nanoparticles with excellent catalytic performance in flow processes

Highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysis driven by metallic nanoparticles relies on a high degree of stabilization of such nanomaterials facilitated by strong surface ligands or deposition on solid supports. In order to tackle these challenges, N-heterocyclic carbene stabilized gold nanoparticles (NHC@AuNPs) emerged as promising heterogeneous catalysts. Despite the high degree of stabilization obtained by NHCs as surface ligands, NHC@AuNPs still need to be loaded on support structures to obtain easily recyclable and reliable heterogeneous catalysts. Therefore, the combination of properties obtained by NHCs and support structures as NHC bearing "functional supports" for the stabilization of AuNPs is desirable. Here, we report the synthesis of hyper-crosslinked polymers containing benzimidazolium as NHC precursors to stabilize AuNPs. Following the successful synthesis of hyper-crosslinked polymers (HCP), a two-step procedure was developed to obtain HCP·NHC@AuNPs. Detailed characterization not only revealed the successful NHC formation but also proved that the NHC functions as a stabilizer to the AuNPs in the porous polymer network. Finally, HCP·NHC@AuNPs were evaluated in the catalytic decomposition of 4-nitrophenol. In batch reactions, a conversion of greater than 99% could be achieved in as little as 90 s. To further evaluate the catalytic capability of HCP·NHC@AuNP, the catalytic decomposition of 4-nitrophenol was also performed in a flow setup. Here the catalyst not only showed excellent catalytic conversion but also exceptional recyclability while maintaining the catalytic performance.

Fundamentals and applications of N-heterocyclic carbene functionalized gold surfaces and nanoparticles

Improved stability and higher degree of synthetic tunability has allowed N-heterocyclic carbenes to supplant thiols as ligands for gold surface functionalization.  This review article summarizes the basic science and applications of NHCs on gold.

Catalytically Active Gold Nanomaterials Stabilized by N-heterocyclic Carbenes

Solid supported or ligand capped gold nanomaterials (AuNMs) emerged as versatile and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for a broad variety of conversions in the ongoing catalytic 'gold rush'. Existing at the border of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, AuNMs offer the potential to merge high catalytic activity with significant substrate selectivity. Owing to their strong binding towards the surface atoms of AuMNs, NHCs offer tunable activation of surface atoms while maintaining selectivity and stability of the NM even under challenging conditions. This work summarizes well-defined catalytically active NHC capped AuNMs including spherical nanoparticles and atom-precise nanoclusters as well as the important NHC design choices towards activity and (stereo-)selectivity enhancements.

Perylene diimide-tagged N-heterocyclic carbene-stabilized gold nanoparticles: How much ligand desorbs from surface in presence of thiols?

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have recently emerged as viable alternatives to commonly used thiols to stabilize a variety of metal surfaces and nanoparticles. In this context, thanks to their biocompatibility and novel optical properties, NHC-stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been extensively studied. It has been shown that such materials exhibit improved stabilities in acidic and basic solutions, high temperatures, electrolyte solutions, cell culture media, and to some extent to nucleophilic thiols. Despite intense efforts, instability of NHC-functionalized AuNPs to thiols has been an ongoing challenge. In order to circumvent this problem, quantification of NHC desorption from nanoparticle surface by the invading thiols would constitute a necessary first step. To do this, we have first developed water-soluble azide decorated NHC-stabilized "clickable" AuNPs. Optically active perylene diimide (PDI)-tagged AuNP hybrids are then obtained by means of Cu-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition between these AuNPs and an alkyne-decorated PDI derivative. Investigation of photophysical properties of these AuNP/PDI hybrids revealed that the fluorescence of PDI molecules is effectively quenched by AuNPs in aqueous solution. The extent of NHC desorption from AuNP surface in presence of glutathione (4 mM), as a biologically relevant thiol, is then quantified by means of fluorescence emission restoration of PDI molecules upon detachment from AuNP surfaces. Our results demonstrate that while ∼20% of surface NHCs are displaced by glutathione within the first 24 h of their exposure to the thiol, ligand desorption reaches ∼45% after one week. We believe that these findings will provide more insight on true stability of NHC-stabilized materials.

Synthetically Versatile Nitrogen Acyclic Carbene Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have received significant attention as gold nanoparticle stabilizers due to their strong binding affinity towards gold. However, their tunability is limited by the difficulty in obtaining nonsymmetric NHCs. In this regard, N-acyclic carbenes (NACs) are attractive alternatives due to their high synthetic versatility, allowing easy tuning of their steric and electronic properties towards specific applications. This work reports the first series of stable and monodisperse NAC-functionalized gold nanoparticles. These particles with sizes ranging 3.8 to 11.6 nm were characterized using NMR, UV/Vis and TEM. The nanoparticles display good stability at elevated temperatures and for extended periods both dried or dispersed in a medium, as well as in the presence of exogenous thiols. Importantly, these NAC-stabilized gold nanoparticles offer a promising and versatile alternative to NHC-stabilized gold nanoparticles.

Protecting the Normal Physiological Functions of Articular and Periarticular Structures by Aurum Nanoparticle-Based Formulations: an Up-to-Date Insight

Taking the articular and periarticular structures as a litmus test for gold-based nanoformulations, the potential of gold nanoparticles in protecting the normal physiological functions of these structures particularly in geriatric patients is one of the research areas of current interest. Aside from its use to make the traditional and fashionable ornaments for human usage, the gold metal is also known for its rich therapeutic activity. This is especially true when the gold is converted from its bulk form into nanosized form before its administering into the human body. Since it is the age of nanocomponents in medical and pharmaceutical research areas, this review is therefore mainly focused on nanoparticulate systems consisting of aurum. Accumulating research reports nevertheless show concrete evidence indicating the potential of gold-based nanoformulations to manage joint syndromes such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. This review embarks from preparation techniques and characterization methods to therapeutical application potentials of gold-based nanoformulations.

Machine learning based temperature prediction of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-capped plasmonic nanoparticle solutions

The temperature-dependent optical properties of gold nanoparticles that are capped with the thermo-sensitive polymer: 'poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)' (PNIPAM), have been studied extensively for several years. Also, their suitability to function as nanoscopic thermometers for bio-sensing applications has been suggested numerous times. In an attempt to establish this, many have studied the temperature-dependent optical resonance characteristics of these particles; however, developing a simple mathematical relationship between the optical measurements and the solution temperature remains an open challenge. In this paper, we attempt to systematically address this problem using machine learning techniques to quickly and accurately predict the solution-temperature, based on spectroscopic data. Our emphasis is on establishing a simple and practically useful solution to this problem. Our dataset comprises spectroscopic absorption data from both nanorods and nanobipyramids capped with PNIPAM, measured at discretely varied and pre-set temperature states. Specific regions of the spectroscopic data are selected as features for prediction using random forest (RF), gradient boosting (GB) and adaptive boosting (AB) regression techniques. Our prediction results indicate that RF and GB techniques can be used successfully to predict solution temperatures instantly to within 1 °C of accuracy.

Orientation of Chiral Schiff Base Metal Complexes Involving Azo-Groups for Induced CD on Gold Nanoparticles by Polarized UV Light Irradiation

In this study, we report the synthesis, characterization, and chiroptical properties of azo-group-containing chiral salen type Schiff base Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) complexes absorbed on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of 10 nm diameters. Induced circular dichroism (CD) around the plasmon region from the chiral species weakly adsorbed on the surface of AuNP were observed when there were appropriate dipole–dipole interactions at the initial states. Spectral changes were also observed by not only cis-trans photoisomerization of azo-groups but also changes of orientation due to Weigert effect of azo-dyes after linearly polarized UV light irradiation. Spatial features were discussed based on dipole-dipole interactions mainly within an exciton framework.

One-step synthesis and XPS investigations of chiral NHC-Au(0)/Au(i) nanoparticles

Although N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been demonstrated as suitable ligands for the stabilisation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through a variety of methods, the manner in which such AuNPs form is yet to be fully elucidated. We report a simple and fast one-step synthesis of uniform chiral (l/d)-histidin-2-ylidene stabilised gold nanoparticles using the organometallic Au(i) complex as a well defined starting material. The resulting nanoparticles have an average size of 2.35 ± 0.43 nm for the L analog whereas an average size of 2.25 ± 0.39 nm was found for the D analog. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses reveal the presence of Au(i) and Au(0) in all NHC stabilised AuNPs. In contrast, measured X-ray photoelectron spectra of dodecanethiol protected gold nanoparticles showed only the presence of a Au(0) species. This observation leads us to postulate that AuNPs synthesised from organometallic NHC-Au(i) complexes exhibit a monolayer of Au(i) surrounding a Au(0) core. This work highlights the importance of synthetic method choice for NHC-stabilized AuNPs, as this could determine Au oxidation states and resulting AuNP properties such as catalytic activities and stabilities.

N-Heterocyclic Carbenes in Materials Chemistry

N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have become one of the most widely studied class of ligands in molecular chemistry and have found applications in fields as varied as catalysis, the stabilization of reactive molecular fragments, and biochemistry. More recently, NHCs have found applications in materials chemistry and have allowed for the functionalization of surfaces, polymers, nanoparticles, and discrete, well-defined clusters. In this review, we provide an in-depth look at recent advances in the use of NHCs for the development of functional materials.