Water-Soluble Pd Nanoparticles Synthesized from ω-Carboxyl-S-Alkanethiosulfate Ligand Precursors as Unimolecular Micelle Catalysts

This report describes a two-phase synthesis of water-soluble carboxylate-functionalized alkanethiolate-capped Pd nanoparticles from ω-carboxyl-S-alkanethiosulfate sodium salts. The two-phase methodology using the thiosulfate ligand passivation protocol allowed a highly specific control over the surface ligand coverage of these nanoparticles, which are lost in a one-phase aqueous system because of the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of thiosulfate to thiolate. Systematic synthetic variations investigated in this study included the concentration of ω-carboxyl-S-alkanethiosulfate ligand precursors and reducing agent, NaBH4, and the overall ligand chain length. The resulting water-soluble Pd nanoparticles were isolated and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), 1H NMR, UV–vis, and FT-IR spectroscopy. Among different variations, a decrease in the molar equivalent of NaBH4 resulted in a reduction in the surface ligand density while maintaining a similar particle cor...