Inverse-Micelle-Encapsulated Water-Enabled Bond Breaking of Dialkyl Diselenide/Disulfide: A Critical Step for Synthesizing High-Quality Gold Nanoparticles

Abstract

Inverse-micelle-encapsulated water formed in the two-phase Brust-Schiffrin method (BSM) synthesis of Au nanoparticles (NPs) is identified as essential for dialkyl diselenide/disulfide to react with the Au(III) complex in which the Se-Se/S-S bond is broken, leading to formation of higher-quality Au NPs.