Issue 17, 2012

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of as-synthesised N,N′-dimethylformamide-stabilised gold nanoclusters product

Abstract

Reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) separation and analysis of polydisperse water-soluble gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) stabilised with N,N′-dimethylformamide (DMF) were investigated. Under optimal elution gradient conditions, the separation of DMF–AuNCs was monitored by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The UV-vis spectral characteristics of the separated DMF–AuNCs have been captured and they do not possess distinct surface plasmon resonance bands, indicating that all DMF–AuNCs are small AuNCs. The photoluminescence emission spectra of the separated DMF–AuNCs are in the blue-light region. Moreover, cationic DMF–AuNCs are for the first time identified by ion chromatography. Our proposed RP-HPLC methodology has been successfully applied to separate AuNCs of various Au atoms as well as DMF-stabilised ligands. Finally, the composition of the separated DMF–AuNCs was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry, proving that the as-synthesised DMF–AuNCs product consists of Au10+, Au10, Au11, Au12, Au13, and Au14 NCs stabilised with various numbers of DMF ligands.

Graphical abstract: High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of as-synthesised N,N′-dimethylformamide-stabilised gold nanoclusters product

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Apr 2012
Accepted
15 Jun 2012
First published
18 Jun 2012

Nanoscale, 2012,4, 5325-5332

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of as-synthesised N,N′-dimethylformamide-stabilised gold nanoclusters product

S. Xie, M. C. Paau, Y. Zhang, S. Shuang, W. Chan and M. M. F. Choi, Nanoscale, 2012, 4, 5325 DOI: 10.1039/C2NR30984J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements