Necklace-like chains of hybrid nanospheres consisting of Pd nanocystals and peptidic lipids.

In this Communication, we report one-pot, high yield formation of unprecedented 1-D necklace-like chains consisting of hybrid Pd nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in spheres of a peptidic lipid. We employed the synthetic peptidic lipid, 2-(2-tetradecanamidoacetamido)acetic acid (1). We found that in the presence of palladium acetate [Pd(OAc)(2)] 1 can self-assemble into structured spheres which connect each other one by one to form the necklace chains in ethanol solutions by coordination of negatively charged carboxylic (COO(-)) groups with Pd(II). Upon reduction of ethanol, the coordinated Pd(II) are reduced into Pd atoms, which subsequently initiate the generation of Pd nuclei, and finally grow into Pd NCs embedded in the sphere chain of 1.