The metal oxide cluster α-AlW(11)O(39)(9-) (1), readily imaged by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), is used as a diagnostic protecting anion to investigate the self-assembly of alkanethiolate monolayers on electrostatically stabilized gold nanoparticles in water. Monolayers of 1 on 13.8 ± 0.9 nm diameter gold nanoparticles are displaced from the gold surface by mercaptoundecacarboxylate, HS(CH(2))(10)CO(2)(-) (11-MU). During this process, no aggregation is observed by UV-vis spectroscopy, and the intermediate ligand-shell organizations of 1 in cryo-TEM images indicate the presence of growing hydrophobic domains, or "islands", of alkanethiolates. UV-vis spectroscopic "titrations", based on changes in the surface plasmon resonance upon exchange of 1 by thiol, reveal that the 330 ± 30 molecules of 1 initially present on each gold nanoparticle are eventually replaced by 2800 ± 30 molecules of 11-MU. UV-vis kinetic data for 11-MU-monolayer formation reveal a slow phase, followed by rapid self-assembly. The Johnson, Mehl, Avrami, and Kolmogorov model gives an Avrami parameter of 2.9, indicating continuous nucleation and two-dimensional island growth. During nucleation, incoming 11-MU ligands irreversibly displace 1 from the Au-NP surface via an associative mechanism, with k(nucleation) = (6.1 ± 0.4) × 10(2) M(-1) s(-1), and 19 ± 8 nuclei, each comprised of ca. 8 alkanethiolates, appear on the gold-nanoparticle surface before rapid growth becomes kinetically dominant. Island growth is also first-order in [11-MU], and its larger rate constant, k(growth), (2.3 ± 0.2) × 10(4) M(-1) s(-1), is consistent with destabilization of molecules of 1 at the boundaries between the hydrophobic (alkanethiolate) and the electrostatically stabilized (inorganic) domains.

The uptake of molecular guests, a hallmark of the supramolecular chemistry of cages and containers, has yet to be documented for soluble assemblies of metal nanoparticles. Here we demonstrate that gold nanoparticle-based supraspheres serve as a host for the hydrophobic uptake, transport and subsequent release of over two million organic guests, exceeding by five orders of magnitude the capacities of individual supramolecular cages or containers and rivalling those of zeolites and metal-organic frameworks on a mass-per-volume basis. The supraspheres are prepared in water by adding hexanethiol to polyoxometalate-protected 4 nm gold nanoparticles. Each 200 nm assembly contains hydrophobic cavities between the estimated 27,400 gold building blocks that are connected to one another by nanometre-sized pores. This gives a percolated network that effectively absorbs large numbers of molecules from water, including 600,000, 2,100,000 and 2,600,000 molecules (35, 190 and 234 g l ) of para-dichorobenzene, bisphenol A and trinitrotoluene, respectively.H ost-guest phenomena that involve the uptake of gases and small molecules are associated with the supramolecular chemistry of soluble capsules, cages and containers [1][2][3][4][5] or, alternatively, with heterogeneous reactions of porous solid-state materials such as zeolites 6 and metal-organic frameworks 7 . Only now, however, are organized assemblies of metal nanoparticles beginning to serve in a similar capacity as hosts for molecular guests. In organic solvents, for example, light-induced dipoledipole interactions between gold nanoparticles with azobenzenefunctionalized thiolate ligands were recently used to entrap and catalyse the reactions of polar and alkylaromatic substrates 8 . By design, substrates were entrapped during nanoparticle aggregation to overcome the poor uptake and diffusion of molecular guests into colloidal nanocrystal assemblies. However, the uptake of molecular guests, a trait of supramolecular and solid-state chemistry, has so far not been achieved for colloidal nanoparticle assemblies.For that to occur, a thermodynamically favourable driving force must be combined with a porous structure whose interior architecture features host cavities, along with pathways for the effective diffusion of molecular guests from the exterior (bulk solution) to host domains deeply buried in the assembly's interior. If this were achieved, colloidal metal-nanoparticle assemblies could emerge as a new class of functional nano-engineered structures that are uniquely positioned between supramolecular containers and porous solid-state materials.We report a new class of functional assemblies, wherein the hydrophobic effect 9,10 drives the spontaneous uptake of alkyl and alkylaromatic guests 11 by porous 200 nm diameter supraspheres whose host capacities are orders of magnitude larger than those of individual cages or containers. On a mass-per-volume basis, the level of uptake rivals those of zeolites and metal-organic frameworks, which, for methane at elevated pressures, r...

Polyoxometalate (POM)-monolayer stability constants, K, for three POM anions vary with the cation size, in the same order as that for increasing ion-pair formation with α-SiW(11)O(39)(8-) (1) in the early nucleation phase of monolayer self-assembly: Li(+) < Na(+) < K(+) < Cs(+). Cryo-TEM images demonstrating the use of the cation size to rationally control monolayer formation provide definitive evidence that the POM monolayers are electrostatically stabilized (ionic) shells, analogous in that respect to the monolayer walls of "hollow" POM-macroanion vesicles.

Polyoxometalate (POM) cluster anions are shown to serve as covalently coordinated ligands for anatase-TiO2 nanocrystals, giving isolable assemblies uniquely positioned between molecular macroanions and traditional colloidal nanoparticles. Na(+) salts of the water-soluble polyanionic structures are obtained by reacting amorphous TiO2 with the 1 nm lacunary ion, Na7 [α-XW11 O39 ] (X=P(5+) ), at 170 °C, after which an average of 55 α-PW11 O39 (7-) clusters are found as pentadentate ligands for Ti(IV) ions covalently linked to 6 nm single-crystal anatase cores. The attached POMs are reversible electron acceptors, the reduction potentials of which shift in a predictable fashion by changing the central heteroatom, X, directly influencing a model catalytic reaction. Just as POM cluster anions control the reactivities of metal centers in molecular complexes, directly coordinated POM ligands with tunable redox potentials now provide new options for rationally controlling the reactions of semiconductor nanocrystals.

Unprecedented insertions of cationic alkanethiols, HS(CH2)11N(CH3)3+ (see scheme; cyan‐colored rods), between polyoxometalate protecting ligands, α‐AlW11O399− (blue circles), and the surfaces of gold nanoparticles, give “zwitterionic” patchy nanoparticles (PNs). Their shell structures and assembly properties vary with particle size during rational in situ modifications that lead to three‐component core–shell aggregates never observed before in PNs.

Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy of polyoxometalate-protected gold nanoparticles reveals that the Preyssler ion, [NaP(5)W(30)O(110)](14-), lies "face down" with its C(5) axis perpendicular to the gold surface, while the Finke-Droege ion, [P(4)W(30)Zn(4)(H(2)O)(2)O(112)](16-), is "tilted", with its long axis close to 60° from the normal to the surface.

Polyoxometalate (POM) cluster anions are shown to serve as covalently coordinated ligands for anatase‐TiO2 nanocrystals, giving isolable assemblies uniquely positioned between molecular macroanions and traditional colloidal nanoparticles. Na+ salts of the water‐soluble polyanionic structures are obtained by reacting amorphous TiO2 with the 1 nm lacunary ion, Na7[α‐XW11O39] (X=P5+), at 170 °C, after which an average of 55 α‐PW11O397− clusters are found as pentadentate ligands for TiIV ions covalently linked to 6 nm single‐crystal anatase cores. The attached POMs are reversible electron acceptors, the reduction potentials of which shift in a predictable fashion by changing the central heteroatom, X, directly influencing a model catalytic reaction. Just as POM cluster anions control the reactivities of metal centers in molecular complexes, directly coordinated POM ligands with tunable redox potentials now provide new options for rationally controlling the reactions of semiconductor nanocrystals.

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