Gold Nanoparticles Stabilized by 1,2,3-Triazolyl Dendronized Polymers as Highly Efficient Nanoreactors for the Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol

Dendronized polymer (DP)-encapsulated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are well prepared and characterized, and their catalytic performance is also evaluated. First, the nanoreactors self-assembled from water-soluble 1,2,3-triazolyl DP 1 are employed as templates to generate DP-encapsulated AuNPs. The resulting AuNPs are characterized through UV–visible spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The catalytic activity of DP-encapsulated AuNPs was estimated by the conversion of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) into 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in water and an extremely catalytic activity is found for the reduction reaction with remarkable TONs up to 2000 and TOFs up to 7350 h− 1. This catalytic performance is comparable to these micellar AuNPs encapsulated by the known analogues including the trz-containing triethylene glycol (TEG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) dendrimers, which may be because that DPs 1 has the similar behavior in solution as the dendrimer analogues.