Controlled growth and catalytic activity of gold monolayer protected clusters in presence of borohydride salts

In the presence of large excesses of borohydride salts, gold monolayer protected-clusters can be grown to larger sizes simply by controlling the amount of reducing agent added to smaller clusters. In addition, gold monolayer clusters can be used as catalysts for reduction reactions by sodium borohydride; results suggest such catalysts have sterically constrained active sites.