  We present a microscopic theory of single-electron tunneling through metallic
nanoparticles connected to the electrodes through molecular bridges. It
combines the theory of electron transport through molecular junctions with the
description of the charging dynamics on the nanoparticles. We apply the theory
to study single-electron tunneling through a gold nanoparticle connected to the
gold electrodes through two representative benzene-based molecules. We
calculate the background charge on the nanoparticle induced by the charge
transfer between the nanoparticle and linker molecules, the capacitance and
resistance of molecular junction using a first-principles based Non-Equilibrium
Green's Function theory. We demonstrate the variety of transport
characteristics that can be achieved through ``engineering'' of the
metal-molecule interaction.
