Directional synthesis and assembly of bimetallic nanosnowmen with DNA

J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Mar 28;134(12):5456-9. doi: 10.1021/ja2121525. Epub 2012 Mar 14.

Abstract

Synthesizing and assembling nanoscale building blocks to form anisotropic nanostructures with the desired composition and property are of paramount importance for the understanding and use of nanostructured materials. Here we report a salt-tuned synthetic strategy using DNA-modified Au nanoparticles (DNA-AuNPs) to form Au-Ag head-body nanosnowman structures in >95% yield. We propose a mechanism for the formation of asymmetric Au-Ag nanosnowmen from DNA-AuNPs, salts, and Ag-precursor-loaded polymers. Importantly, we show that oriented assemblies of various nanostructures are readily obtained using nanosnowmen with asymmetrically modified DNA as building blocks.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA / chemistry*
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Metal Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Metal Nanoparticles / ultrastructure
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / ultrastructure
  • Nanotechnology / methods
  • Silver / chemistry*

Substances

  • Silver
  • Gold
  • DNA