Liquid-Crystalline Thiol- and Disulfide-Based Dendrimers for the Functionalization of Gold Nanoparticles Preliminary Communication

Liquid-crystalline dendrons carrying either a thiol or disulfide function which display nematic, smectic A, columnar, or chiral nematic phases have been synthesized. Their mesomorphic properties are in agreement with the nature of the mesogenic units and structure of the dendrons. The first-generation poly(aryl ester) dendron containing two cyanobiphenyl mesogenic units was used to functionalize gold nanoparticles. For full coverage, a smectic-like supramolecular organization on the nanometer scale is observed, when the gold nanoparticles are spread onto carbon-coated copper grids. This result indicates that the dendritic ligands reported here act as self-organization promoters. Introduction. – Rational design of novel supramolecular materials for applications in optics, electronics, catalysis, and biomedical sciences is still a challenge [1], current interest with this aim being focused on the synthesis of thermotropic liquid-crystalline gold nanoparticles [2 – 5]. Decorated gold nanoparticles are one of the most promising candidates for self-organization leading to bulk metamaterials, i.e., materials wit