Adsorption of 1.4-phenylenediisocyanide (PDI) has been studied for different-sized gold nanoparticles with mean diameters of 6, 14, 23, 40, 57. and 97 nm using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The SERS enhancement was found to be relatively weak for 6-nm particles due to less aggregation between PDI and gold particles. Concentration-dependent SERS spectra show that PDI was assumed to bridge two different gold particles at low concentrations of PDI, but as the concentration was increased, the bridge appeared to be broken. and PDI bonded to the gold particle only via one of its two isocyanide groups. For the 57- and 97-nm particles, however, the nu(NC)(free) stretching hand in the SERS spectrum almost disappeared, even at a high bulk concentration of PDI, differently from the case of the smaller sizes (14, 23, and 40 nm). The 57- and 97-nm particles appeared to cross-link through the pendent isocyanide group even at a high bulk concentration. UV-vis absorption spectra indicated that PDI appeared to aggregate more extensively with increasing size in agreement with Raman data. Our result shows an example that the adsorption scheme of an aromatic diisocyanide may be varied depending on particle size as well as the bulk concentration. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.