today, I have another contribution to the #SciencePic initiative.
We synthesized this substance in lab. After crystallisation over night, we found this beautiful heart shape in our flask.
The substance has the nearly unpronouncable name 11-mercaptoundecanoicacid-N-hydroxysuccinimideester.
It can be used, for example, as a linker on the surface of different metal nanoparticles (like gold, silver or iron oxide). Thereby the sulfur atom attaches, in a covalent bond, to the metal atoms. The ester function can be modified afterwards with further molecules or functionalities (e.g. bio active molecules or dyes).
See you next time!
