One fundamental challenge facing current nanochemistry research is achieving water solubility of particles that are prepared in organic solvents for biological and photocatalytic applications. Many syntheses of nanoparticles are conducted in the presence of organic solvents and surfactants to yield monodisperse nanoparticles, but leave nanoparticles with coronas of long hydrophobic alkyl chains, thus rendering them insoluble in water. Current methods for improving water solubility, such as ligand exchange, only work for a few nanoparticle systems. A unique opportunity lies in the exploitation and manipulation of the chemistry of common surfactant molecules, especially the unsaturation in oleic acid and oleylamine. Here we show that after nanoparticle synthesis, using the Grubbs' metathesis reaction, the outer portion of the ligand can be replaced with a chain containing a polar functional group. The reaction allows for precise control of the resultant structure of the ligand and thus the chemical functionality and water solubility of the nanoparticles.

Utilization of metathesis to achieve water solubility of nanoparticles

247th National Meeting (2014)

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