Metal-cupferron decomposition

Alivisatos and collaborators [257] demonstrated that transition metal oxide nanocrystals (7-Fc203, Mn304, CU2O) could be prepared using a nonhydrolytic process based on the thermal decomposition of metal Cupferron complexes M Cup (M = metal ion. Cup = CeHsNjNOjO ) in a hot solvent with surfactant. Their results suggest that a good level of control can be achieved when this approach is used to process metal oxide nanoparticles. 

Nanocrystals are zero-dimensional particles and can be prepared by several chemical methods, typical examples being reduction of salts, solvothermal synthesis and the decomposition of molecular precursors, among which the first method is the most commonly used in the case of metal nanocrystals. Metal oxide nanocrystals are generally prepared by the decomposition of precursor compounds such as metal acetates, acetylacetonates and cupferronates in appropriate solvents, often under solvothermal... 

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