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Cover Picture: Catalysis of Gold Nanoparticles within Lysozyme Single Crystals (Chem. Asian J. 4/2012)
Author(s) -
Wei Hui,
Lu Yi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
chemistry – an asian journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.18
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1861-471X
pISSN - 1861-4728
DOI - 10.1002/asia.201290010
Subject(s) - colloidal gold , photocatalysis , catalysis , reagent , nanotechnology , green chemistry , nanoparticle , chemistry , methyl orange , water splitting , materials science , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , engineering , reaction mechanism
While gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been widely used in catalysis, a detailed understanding concerning the control of their activity has been lacking. In their Communication on page 680 ff. , Hui Wei and Yi Lu report that AuNPs (shown in gold in the image) grown within the single crystals of the protein lysozyme catalyze the reduction of para ‐nitrophenol (in orange) by NaBH 4 to para ‐aminophenol (in green) in a size‐dependent manner. Because the size of the AuNPs can be precisely tuned by the growth period for the protein crystals, a correlation between the size of AuNPs within the protein crystals and their catalytic activity has now been established. The use of chemicals to either accelerate or inhibit the activity of AuNPs is also demonstrated (Image design: Li Huey Tan, Hui Wei, and Yi Lu).