Organic / Inorganic hybrid amphiphiles with bolaform architecture

Abstract

This Ph.D. thesis mention the synthesis and physical properties of catalytic active surfactants. So, bolaamphiphiles showing a probable catalytic active polyoxometalate cluster (POM) and a highly coordinating thiol (SH) group were synthesized. After characterizing their molecular architecture, the physical properties of these compounds in aqueous solutions (i.e. self-assembly behaviour) were investigated. In a second step, these surfactants were coordinated by utilizing the thiol group on the surface of gold nanoparticles, realizing a nano-hybrid catalyst. The resulting catalytic system show a significant improvement of the performance by light irradiation. This improvement is based on a plasmonic enhancement, consisting of three separate effects. First, a nano-heating effect rise the catalytic conversion in accordance to the temperature dependence of the reaction. Additionally, a transfer of stimulated ‘hot electrons’ from the gold nanoparticle to the POM cluster can be strongly assumed. Thereby, the transfer depends on a distance and an electron-conductive parameter, resulting in a maximum of enhancement of 465%.