Stabilisation of gold nanoparticles by N-heterocyclic thiones.

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) have been prepared using N-heterocyclic thiones (NHTs) as ligand stabilisers. These Au-NPs have been shown to be very stable, even in air, and have been characterized by a combination of several techniques (TEM, HR-TEM, STEM-HAADF, EDX, DLS, elemental analysis and 1H NMR). These nanoparticles are active in the catalytic reduction of nitroarenes to anilines.