Air-Stable Gold Nanoparticles Ligated by Secondary Phosphine Oxides as Catalyst for the Chemoselective Hydrogenation of Substituted Aldehydes: a Remarkable Ligand Effect

Air-stable and homogeneous gold nanoparticles (AuNPs, 1a–5a) ligated by various secondary phosphine oxides (SPOs), [R1R2P(O)H] (R1 = Naph, R2 = tBu, L1; R1 = R2 = Ph, L2; R1 = Ph, R2 = Naph, L3; R1 = R2 = Et, L4; R1 = R2 = Cy, L5; R1 = R2 = tBu, L6), with different electronic and steric properties were synthesized via NaBH4 reduction of the corresponding Au(I)–SPO complex. These easily accessible ligands allow the formation of well dispersed and small nanoparticles (size 1.2–2.2 nm), which were characterized by the use of a wide variety of techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, UV–vis, energy-dispersive X-ray, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), and cross polarization magic angle spinning (CP MAS) NMR spectroscopy. A pronounced ligand effect was found, and CP MAS NMR experiments enabled us to probe important differences in the polarity of the P–O bond of the SPOs coordinated to ...