Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, 7330 Stevenson Center, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
Analyst. 2010 May;135(5):868-74. doi: 10.1039/b922291j. Epub 2010 Feb 9.
Thiolate-protected gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are a highly versatile nanomaterial, with wide-ranging physical properties dependent upon the protecting thiolate ligands and gold core size. These nanoparticles serve as a scaffold for a diverse and rapidly increasing number of applications, extending from molecular electronics to vaccine development. Key to the development of such applications is the ability to quickly and precisely characterize synthesized AuNPs. While a unique set of challenges have inhibited the potential of mass spectrometry in this area, recent improvements have made mass spectrometry a dominant technique in the characterization of small AuNPs, specifically those with discrete sizes and structures referred to as monolayer-protected gold clusters (MPCs). Additionally, the unique fragmentation data from mass spectrometry enables the characterization of the protecting monolayer on larger AuNPs. The development of mass spectrometry techniques for AuNP characterization has begun to reveal interesting new areas of research. This report is a discussion of the historical challenges in this field, the emerging techniques which aim to meet those challenges, and the future role of mass spectrometry in the growing field of thiolate-protected AuNPs.
硫醇保护的金纳米粒子（AuNPs）是一种用途广泛的纳米材料，其物理性质取决于保护硫醇配体和金核的大小。这些纳米粒子作为一个支架，用于各种快速增长的应用，从分子电子学到疫苗开发。开发此类应用的关键是能够快速、准确地对合成的 AuNPs 进行表征。虽然质谱法在这一领域面临着独特的挑战，但最近的改进使质谱法成为小 AuNPs （特别是那些具有离散尺寸和结构的被称为单层保护金簇（MPC）的 AuNPs）的特征描述的主要技术。此外，质谱法独特的碎片数据能够对较大的 AuNPs 上的保护单层进行特征描述。用于 AuNP 表征的质谱技术的发展已经开始揭示出一些有趣的新研究领域。本报告讨论了该领域的历史挑战、旨在应对这些挑战的新兴技术，以及质谱法在日益发展的硫醇保护 AuNPs 领域的未来作用。
