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Using Click Chemistry to Universally Place Ligands on the Surfaces of Nanocrystals Nanocrystals are small crystals consisting of about a thousand atoms of an inorganic material, such as iron oxide. When they are prepared, organic molecules, known as ligands are formed on the surfaces. These ligands are very important because they can change nanocrystal properties and how the nanocrystals can attach to each other and to other objects.
Profs. Turro and Koberstein of the Columbia MRSEC have developed a new method that can universally change the ligands formed during synthesis to other ligands, by using click chemistry, in which different ligands can be chemically clicked on to molecules that are bound to the nanocrystal surface. This opens the door to a wide range of potential uses of nanocrystals in electronics, photonics, and medicine.
(For more, see an early account in J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128(35), 11356 ? 11357 (2006).) Posted on: March 20, 2008 For more details please contact: Jeffrey Koberstein, Nicholas Turro |
 Schematic of two types of click chemistry on nanocrystals |
