Functional gold nanoparticles for recognition and catalysis

Gold nanoparticles passivated by a monolayer of functional thiolates represent a new promising tool in supramolecular chemistry since they allow the preparation of complex, self-organized, polyvalent structures with a very modest synthetic effort. These systems have sizes comparable to those of many biological molecules including proteins and nucleic acids, and to those of many cellular sub-structures. In this way they are good candidates to model recognition processes and to develop new biomimetic catalysts. Some interesting examples towards these goals are reviewed briefly.