Structure Determination of a Water-Soluble 144-Gold Atom Particle at Atomic Resolution by Aberration-Corrected Electron Microscopy.

Structure determination by transmission electron microscopy has revealed the long sought 144-gold atom particle. The structure exhibits deviations from face-centered cubic packing of the gold atoms, similar to the solution structure of another gold nanoparticle, and in contrast to a previous X-ray crystal structure. Evidence from analytical methods points to a low number of 3-mercaptobenzoic acid ligands covering the surface of the particle.