Bifunctional Organic Molecules as an Effective Stabilizer for Selenium Nanoparticles

Abstract

This paper presents the results of studying the process of stabilization of selenium nanoparticles using 20 basic amino acids. Selenious acid was used as a selenium-containing precursor, sodium borohydride was used as a reducing agent, and 20 basic amino acids acted as stabilizers. The synthesis was carried out by the method of chemical reduction in an aqueous medium. The average hydrodynamic radius of the particles obtained samples was determined by photon correlation spectroscopy. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, it was found that the optimal amino acids for stabilizing selenium nanoparticles are L-valine, L-aspargine, L-serine, L-lysine, L-methionine, L-threonine, L-proline, L-glutamine, L-cysteine, L-phenylalanine, L-leucine. We also studied the influence of the optimal stabilizer concentration on the average hydrodynamic radius of selenium nanoparticles. It has been established that samples of nanoselenium stabilized with the amino acid L-methionine have the smallest particle radius. We also studied the stabilization of selenium nanoparticles with amino acids using computer quantum chemical simulation. As a result of quantum chemical modeling, it was found that the energetically favorable interaction is the Se-L-methionine configuration through the thiol group of the amino acid, the energy value of which was -12789.474 kcal/mol.