Observation of uniform ligand environments and P-31-Au-197 coupling in phosphine-terminated Au nanoparticles

Here, we use solution and solid-state P-31 NMR to study the ligand environment of water soluble, phosphine-terminated gold nanoparticles. The resulting spectra indicate that particle-bound phosphine ligands occupy an unexpectedly monodisperse ligand environment. This uniformity then facilitates one of the first descriptions of distinct P-31-Au-197 coupling in colloidal nanoparticles.