Facile Displacement of Citrate Residues from Gold Nanoparticle (AuNP) Surfaces

Using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) synthesized with deuterated citrate, the Zhang Group demonstrated that the surface of citrate-reduced AuNPs contains both deuterium-bearing citrate-derivative and hydrogen-bearing solvent impurities.  The deuterium-bearing citrate derivatives can be readily displaced from AuNPs by organothiols, organodisufide, and non-specific ligands including halides and adenine. Interpretation of ex-situ XPS data is complicated by the inevitable sample contamination induced by solvent drying processes.

Perera, G. S.; Athukorale, S. A.; Perez, F.; Pittman, C. U.; Zhang, D.*, “Facile Displacement of Citrate Residues from Gold Nanoparticle Surfaces.” J. Colloid Interface Sci., 2018, 511, 335-343. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.014)