Surfactant assisted formation of ruthenium nanochains under mild conditions and their catalytic CO oxidation activity.

Spontaneous formation of ruthenium nanochains is accomplished in aqueous medium under mild conditions using a seed mediated protocol with cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the capping agent. They are formed due to the random self-assembly of Ru seeds of ∼3.5 nm size. These 1D nanostructures exhibit better catalytic activity towards the oxidation of CO relative to the ∼3.5 nm seeds and 6 nm Ru nanospheres. The synthesis strategy adopted here is found to be simple, facile and environmentally friendly.

Structure sensitive chemical reactivity by palladium concave nanocubes and nanoflowers synthesised by a seed mediated procedure in aqueous medium.

Palladium nanocubes and their transformation to concave nanocubes and nanoflowers are realised by a seed mediated procedure in aqueous medium and at room temperature using cationic surfactants. The concave nanocubes and nanoflowers were found to be enclosed by high index facets. The under co-ordinated atoms present on the high index facets make these nanostructures chemically more active towards Suzuki coupling and Heck coupling reactions compared to the conventional nanocubes and spherical nanoparticles of similar size.