title: Soft, Oxidative Stripping of Alkyl Thiolate Ligands from Hydroxyapatite-Supported Gold Nanoclusters for Oxidation Reactions.
abstract: A strategy for the mild deprotection of alkyl-thiolated (6-mercaptohexanoic acid, MHA, and 3-mercaptopropanoic acid, MPA) gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) supported on hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been developed by employing a peroxide (tert-butyl hydroperoxide, TBHP, or hydrogen peroxide, H2O2) as an oxidant. The thiol ligands on the supported Au NCs were removed after oxidation, and the size and integrity of the supported clusters were well-preserved. The bare gold clusters on HAP after removal of the ligands were catalytically effective for the epoxidation of styrene and the aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. These two reactions were also investigated on calcined Au NCs that were supported on HAP for comparison, and the resulting Au NCs that were prepared by using this new strategy showed superior catalytic activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.|State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, No. 5 Xin Mofan Road, Nanjing, 210009, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jingguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jun Jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mattia
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, ASTAR, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ziyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore. chexiej@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive, Singapore, 117585, Singapore. ning.yan@nus.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yan
keywords: S ligands; gold; nanoclusters; oxidation; synthetic methods