A retro-Diels-Alder reaction to uncover maleimide-modified surfaces on monolayer-protected nanoparticles for reversible covalent assembly.

Maleimide-modified monolayer-protected gold nanoparticles (MPGN) are prepared from the protected furan-maleimide via the thermally reversible Diels-Adler reaction when required. These maleimide-MPGNs serve as a general platform allowing for a Diels-Alder reaction with furan-modified MPN to prepare larger 3D networks reversibly. [reaction: see text]