Gold nanopariticles, formed by a controllable reduction of tetrachlorauric acid (HAuCl4) and subsequently coated by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of 3-mercaptopropionc acid (MPA) molecules, were used to investigate lateral single-electron tunneling (L-SET) using an ultrahigh vacuum four probe technique with gold electrodes on SiO2/Si (100) at low temperature 16 k, and were also used to test ultraviolet absorption. X-ray photoelec tron speclroscopy (XPS) has been used to confirm the gold particles coated by a SAM of MPA. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging showed that the coated parlicles were dispersed in diameter size and spherical in shape. Experimental data from electrial transport measurements are in well agreement with semi-classical predietions for correlated L-SET and permit estimations of the electrical resistance and capacitance in a multi-tunnel systed composed of various tunnel junctions. Ultraviolet absorption spectra showed a small blue shift for the smaller particle, and the phenomena of blue shift caused by quantum size effect were also discussed.