Probing N-Heterocyclic Carbene Surfaces with Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Autor: Shelby L. Strausser, Jacob E. Olson, William C. Boggess, David Jenkins, Jon P. Camden, Nathaniel L. Dominique
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Analytical Chemistry. 93:13534-13538
ISSN: 1520-6882
0003-2700
DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02401
Popis: The proliferation of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold surfaces stems from their exceptional stability compared to conventional thiol-SAMs. The prospect of biological applications for NHC-SAMs on gold shows the need for biocompatible techniques (e.g., large biomolecule detection and high throughput) that assesses SAM molecular composition. Herein, we demonstrate that laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) is a powerful and facile probe of NHC surface chemistry. LDI-MS of prototypical imidazole-NHC- and benzimidazole-NHC-functionalized AuNPs yields exclusively [NHC2Au]+ ions and not larger gold clusters. Employing benzimidazole-NHC isotopologues, we explore how monolayers pack on a single AuNP and the lability of the NHCs once ligated. Quantitative analysis of the homoleptic and heteroleptic [NHC2Au]+ ions is performed by comparing to a binomial model representative of a randomized monolayer. Lastly, the reduction of nitro-NHC-AuNPs to amine-NHC-AuNPs is tracked via LDI-MS signals, illustrating the ability of LDI-MS to probe postsynthetic modifications of the anchored NHCs, which is critical for current and future applications of NHC surfaces.
Databáze: OpenAIRE