Brust–Schiffrin synthesis of catalytic bipodal PdPt nanoparticles with some mechanistic insights

Abstract

Brust–Schiffrin reduction of Pd and Pt precursors in the presence of resorcinarene amine surfactant led to the formation of substantially Pt rich, PdPt bimetallic nanoparticles of a V-shape or variants on the V-shape. New insights into this reaction are provided on the basis of reversed Brust–Schiffrin syntheses, DLS, UV-vis, and NMR analysis. Based on our experiments we conclude that the resorcinarene amine surfactant is part of the inverse micelle formed from TOABr and it also selectively complexes with the Pd salts prior to their reduction. Remarkably, the composition of the bipodal nanoparticles could be varied substantially by varying the reaction conditions. These anisotropic Pt rich PdPt bimetallic nanoparticles are expected to play a major role in catalytic and electrocatalytic applications and preliminary evidence shows that they are effective in mediating Suzuki cross-coupling reactions.