A general approach to mono- and bimetallic organometallic nanoparticles

A comprehensive methodology to prepare nanometric size organometallic particles (ONPs) containing rhodium(I), iridium(I) and nickel(0) with ROMP-derived polycycloocta-1,5-diene (pCOD) by a controlled single chain collapse mechanism was developed. The polymeric complexes could be produced via direct exchange of the respective labile ligands of metal complexes by the 1,5-hexadiene elements in pCOD, or via in situ reduction of metal ions in the presence of the polymer. These well-defined p-bound polymeric complexes were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) measurements and the resulting polymer sizes were found to be inversely proportional to the amount of metal added due to concomitant single chain collapse. Moreover, these procedures were readily extended to the synthesis of organobimetallic nanoparticles containing two metals; which could be added in commutative order and specific metal ratios. The embedded metal elements were found to be readily accessible for applications in catalysis, where the close proximity of the catalytic centers led to distinctive reactivity compared to the isolated complexes.