Ionic Liquid-Responsive Phase Transfer of Gold Nanoparticles: Anionic Metathesis.

In this work, a fresh approach has been proposed for the efficient transfer of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from an aqueous to organic phase by the metathesis reaction or anion exchange reaction. Here, we synthesized ionic liquid 1-butyl 3-hexadecyl imidazolium bromide [CCIm]Br-stabilized AuNPs which exhibit excellent stability in solution. Transfer of Au@[CCIm]Br from an aqueous to organic phase was investigated by the metathesis reaction with different hydrophobic ionic liquid-forming salts such as LiNTf, LiClO, and KPF.