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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Apr 29.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Chem Soc. 2020 Apr 21;142(17):7783–7794. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b13813

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Synthesis of AcetalDextran-AuNPs. (a) Ultrasmall hydrophilic gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized using p-mercaptobenzoic acid (pMBA) as a capping ligand; particles had a mean core diameter of 1.7 ± 0.5 nm (SEM). Inset shows TEM image of dried particles. (b) Dextran (5 kDa) was combined with 3,3’-dithiobis(propanoic dihydrazide) to install a terminal thiol group. (c) pMBA-AuNPs were coated with thiolated dextran via ligand exchange, yielding Dextran-AuNPs. (d) Dextran-AuNPs were covalently modified with acetal groups, yielding AcetalDextran-AuNPs. (e) Demonstration of water-soluble Dextran-AuNPs vs. chloroform-soluble AcetalDextran-AuNPs.