The Significance of bromide in the Brust-Schiffrin synthesis of thiol protected gold nanoparticles

Booth, S. G.*; Uehara, Akihiro*; Chang, S.-Y.*; La Fontaine, C.*; Fujii, Toshiyuki*; Okamoto, Yoshihiro  ; Imai, Takahito*; Schroeder, S. L. M.*; Dryfe, R. A. W.*

The two-phase Brust-Schiffrin synthesis of alkane thiol protected metal nanoparticles has been shown to undergo significantly different processes dependent on the precursor species and reactant conditions. In this work X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used in conjunction with liquid/liquid electrochemistry in order to highlight the significance of Br; to the reaction mechanism. We propose that the observed behavior of [AuBr]; species described herein explain a deviation in reported behavior present in the current literature. The reported mechanistic understanding should enable a nanoparticle synthesis with a higher yield and reduce size polydispersity.