Organized arrays of anisotropic nanoparticles show electronic and optical properties that originate from the coupling of shape-dependent properties of the individual nanorods. The organization of nanorods in a controllable and predictable way provides a route to the fabrication of new materials and functional devices. So far, significant progress has been achieved in the self-assembly of nanorod arrays, yet the realization of a range of different structures requires changing the surface chemistry of the nanoparticles. We organized metal nanorods in structures with varying geometries by using a striking analogy between amphiphilic ABA triblock copolymers and the hydrophilic nanorods tethered with hydrophobic polymer chains at both ends. The self-assembly was tuneable and reversible and it was achieved solely by changing the solvent quality for the constituent blocks. This approach provides a new route to the organization of anisotropic nanoparticles by using the strategies that are established for the self-assembly of block copolymers.

We report a new nonwrapping approach to noncovalent engineering of carbon nanotube surfaces by short, rigid functional conjugated polymers, poly(aryleneethynylene)s. Our technique not only enables the dissolution of various types of carbon nanotubes in organic solvents, which represents the first example of solubilization of carbon nanotubes via pi-stacking without polymer wrapping, but could also introduce numerous neutral and ionic functional groups onto the carbon nanotube surfaces.

This paper reports new kinetic data on the electron-transfer kinetics of betaine-30 and the related compound ZerZ-butylbetaine. The experimental data are in excellent agreement with a new theoretical model which is an extension of the approach given by Sumí and Marcus (Sumí, H; Marcus, R. A. J. Chem. Phys. 1986, 84, 4894). Most of the parameters required for the kinetic predictions can be obtained in a straightforward fashion by fitting the static absorption spectra of the charge-transfer band. The combined theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that an accurate model for electron transfer in the inverted regime in solution minimally requires the following three nuclear degrees of freedom: (i) a solvent mode with a frictional response, (ii) an intramolecular low-frequency (classical) mode, and (iii) a high-frequency (quantum mechanical) intramolecular mode. Furthermore, the analysis allows for a detailed understanding of the combined effects of solvation dynamics and vibrational excitations in ultrafast electron-transfer kinetics.