Hyperbranched polyglycidol assisted green synthetic protocols for the preparation of multifunctional metal nanoparticles.

Biocompatible hyperbranched polyglycidol (HBP) has been demonstrated to be an effective reducing and stabilizing agent for the synthesis of highly water-soluble monometallic (Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, and Ru) and bimetallic (Au/Pt, Au/Pd, and Au/Ru) nanoparticles (NPs), which provides a general and green protocol to fabricate metal NPs. The HBP-assisted reduction of metal ions follows an analogous polyol process. The reduction reaction rate increases sharply by increasing the temperature and the molecular weight of HBP. The size of NPs is controllable simply by changing the concentration of the metal precursor. High molecular weight HBP is favorable for the formation of NPs with uniform size and improved stability. By utilizing hydroxyl groups in the HBP-passivation layer of Au NPs, TiO(2)/Au, GeO(2)/Au, and SiO(2)/Au nanohybrids are also fabricated via sol-gel processes, which sets a typical example for the creation of versatile metal NPs/inorganic oxide hybrids based on the as-prepared multifunctional NPs.