A novel hydrogel containing thioether group as selective support material for preparation of gold nanoparticles: Synthesis and catalytic applications

In this study, firstly N-metacrylamido thiomorpholine containing thioether group was synthesized as monomer. Then, p(AAm-co-MTM) hydrogels were prepared from the redox polymerization of acrylamide and N-metacrylamido thiomorpholine as a selective support material. p(AAm-co-MTM) hydrogel-gold nanoparticles were obtained as a result of the reduction of the selectively absorbed gold(III) ions by the hydrogel network using NaBH4 as reducing agent. All materials were characterized using techniques such as SEM, EDX, TEM and XRD analysis. It was determined that p(AAm-co-MTM)-Au composite material has high catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol. The activation parameters of the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol using NaBH4 in the presence of p(AAm-co-MTM)-Au catalyst were calculated as Ea = 38.80 kJ/mol, ΔH# = 36.16 kJ/mol and ΔS#= −161.37 J/mol K.