A novel gold nanoparticle stabilization and its muon chemistry

We report a novel one-pot synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) non-covalently stabilized by ionic liquid benzyldimethyltetradecylammonium chloride (Bac-14). Bac-14 demonstrates unprecedented long-term stabilization for its class of long-chain alkylated quaternary ammonium halides; the AuNP size remained constant for months. The mechanism of stabilization of similar surfactants has not been thoroughly explored in the literature. We elucidate the conformational mechanism of Bac-14 stabilization of the AuNP. Our proposed conformation suggests that these AuNPs are promising catalytic oxidization agents. This is suggestive of their ultra-fast electron capture behavior investigated by muon chemistry, which pioneers the field of muon chemistry of nanostructures.