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Friday, 19th October 2007 (4419 views)

A team of researchers at California's Stanford University has successfully solved the mystery behind the bond between gold nanoparticles and sulfur-containing chemical compounds, according to an article published in Chemistry World.

The Royal Society of Chemistry's publication reported that the researchers were able to prepare gold nanoparticles in a uniform size, which confirms that the particles have well-defined, rather than random, structures.

X-ray crystallography revealed that each gold particle contains 102 atoms of gold, with 23 that bind to sulfurs found in acidic molecules, although the process through which bonds are formed is still unclear.

Mathias Brust, a nanoparticle fabrication specialist at the University of Liverpool, told Chemistry World that the research represents a "major step" that can be applied to sensors, biomedical diagnostics, drug delivery, molecular electronics and catalysis.

The study was conducted by Dr Robert Kornberg, who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2006 for his research into the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription.

 

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