A protecting group approach toward synthesis of Au–silica Janus nanostars

The concept of protecting groups, widely used in organic chemistry, has been applied for the synthesis of Au–silica Janus stars, in which gold branches protrude from one half of Au–silica Janus spheres. This configuration opens up new possibilities to apply the plasmonic properties of gold nanostars, as well as a variety of chemical functionalizations on the silica component.