Predicting phase-transfer behavior of gold nanoparticles with UV–vis spectroscopy

UV–vis spectroscopy is used to investigate the ability of aqueous gold nanoparticle (AuNP) solutions to be transferred into chloroform using 1-dodecanethiol. Five reverse Turkevich syntheses using different ratios of citric acid/gold are used to prepare AuNP. UV–vis monitors the different syntheses at the wavelength of maximum absorbance (525 nm), and spectra of the final products are acquired. It is shown that the solutions that develop color slowly and have lower absorbance at 525 nm are more likely to undergo successful phase transfer in chloroform with the addition of 1-dodecanethiol. The work suggests that using UV–vis to measure the appearance of color during the synthesis of AuNP may be an efficient method for predicting the behavior of the nanoparticles in subsequent reactions.