Kinetic Investigations of Thiolate Protected Gold Nanoparticles: Protein Interactions, Electron Transfer, and Precursor Formation

Abstract

The presented research describes how properties of thiolate protected gold nanoparticles were used to create functional nanomaterials with applications in biomimetics and nanomolecular electronics. Additionally, fundamental aspects of nanoparticle synthesis and characterization were studied. A peptide functionalized tiopronin protected gold nanoparticle was synthesized and found to strongly and specifically bind to a monoclonal antibody specific for respiratory syncytial virus in a quartz crystal microbalance immunoassay. Alkanethiolate protected gold nanoparticles functionalized with molecular wire thiolate ligands were synthesized and found to have faster electron transfer kinetics than the corresponding unfunctionalized nanoparticles. The kinetics of formation of the precursor complex in a water soluble gold nanoparticle synthesis was probed with UV/Visible spectroscopy. The described studies advance the science of gold nanoparticle synthesis and describe potential applications.