Synthesis and Characterisation of Hybrid Polymer-Gold Nanoparticles: Towards Novel Biosensors

A method is reported for the self-assembly of hybrid polymer-gold nanoparticles. To this end a methacrylate block copolymer has been synthesized by radical addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. The resultant block copolymer has a sulfur-containing dithiocarbamate end group. Due to the high degree of interaction of sulfur containing functionalities and gold, the dithiocarbamate end groups have been used as a means to generate hybrid polymer gold nanoparticles. The synthesized polymers and nanoparticles have been characterized by a series of analytical techniques, including diffusion ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY), which has been utilized to demonstrate block copolymer formation and formation of the polymer-gold hybrids.