Proline stabilizes amphiphilic gold nanoparticles <i>via</i> hydrophobic interactions.

ABSTRACT: Colloidal dispersions are key in many fields of science and technology. Recently, we have shown that small molecules can stabilize dispersions of nanoscale objects, such as proteins and nanoparticles by screening their net attractive interactions. This new effect is essentially the opposite of the well-known salt screening of electrostatic interaction. Here we show that small molecule stabilization of nanoparticles is a phenomenon strongly linked to the hydrophobic content of the particles as well as to the strength of their hydrophobic attraction. We compare the effect of proline on gold nanoparticles coated with 11-mercaptoundecane sulfonate (MUS) at varying percentages of the hydrophobic ligand octanethiol (OT). We show that the larger the percentage of OT, the larger the proline stabil

SUBMITTER: Mao T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12439247 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature