Gold and silver nanoparticles have been synthesized and stabilized with 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA). The resulting MPA capped nanoparticles have been functionalized by attaching rhenium carbonyl species to the MPA carboxylate groups. The whole process have been carried out in a two-step procedure improved from the literature for radiopharmaceutical applications. The resultant rhenium-coated metal (gold or silver) nanoparticles have been studied by a different techniques, as for example X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Visible spectroscopy, Z-potential, thermogravimetric analysis and vibrational infrared spectroscopy, which proves that the metal core has been really coated with the rhenium carbonyl species, so X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy have been used to study the structure, size and shape of the obtained nanoparticles. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.