N-Heterocyclic carbene coated metal nanoparticles

N-Heterocyclic carbene coated Au and Pd nanoparticles have been prepared by a ligand exchange reaction; although carbenes quantitatively displaced the thioether and phosphine ligands from the nanoparticle surface, the resultant nanoparticles spontaneously leached metal complexes and aggregated in solution. © 2009 The Royal Society of Chemistry and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.