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Soft Matter

Where physics meets chemistry meets biology for fundamental soft matter research.



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Paper

Soft Matter, 2009, 5, 607 - 612, DOI: 10.1039/b811603b

Gold nanoparticle-PPE constructs as biomolecular material mimics: understanding the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions

Ronnie L. Phillips, Oscar R. Miranda, David E. Mortenson, Chandramouleeswaran Subramani, Vincent M. Rotello and Uwe H. F. Bunz

Eleven cationic, monolayer-protected quaternary ammonium-functionalized gold nanoparticles (ANPs) were prepared and investigated for their ability to quench the fluorescence of a poly(p-phenyleneethynylene) (PPE) that features carboxylate groups to enable electrostatic interactions with the ANPs. Depending upon their structures, the ANPs displayed binding constants to the PPE from 8 × 107 to 1010 M-1, with particularly high affinity observed with aromatic functionalized ANPs capable of aromatic stacking. These binding constants were obtained by analyzing the quenching data using a modified Stern–Volmer formalism.

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