title: Substituent effects on redox potentials and optical gap energies of molecule-like Au38(SPhX)24 nanoparticles.
abstract: A molecule-like substituent effect on redox formal potentials in the nanoparticle series Au(38)(SPhX)(24) has been discovered. Electron-withdrawing "X" substituents energetically favor reduction and disfavor oxidation, and give formal potentials that correlate with Hammett substituent constants. The ligand monolayer of the nanoparticles is shown, thereby, to play a strong role in determining electronic energies of the nanoparticle core and is more than simply a protecting or capping layer. The substituent effect does not, however, detectably change the HOMO-LUMO gap energy, being identical for the HOMO and LUMO levels and presumably inductive in nature.
authors.affiliation: Kenan Laboratories of Chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3290, USA.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Royce W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Murray