In this Article, we present our findings on the formation of metal sulfide nanocrystals from sulfur-alkylamine solutions. By pulsed field gradient diffusion NMR along with the standard toolbox of 1D and 2D NMR, we determined that sulfur-amine solutions used as a sulfur precursor exist as alkylammonium polysulfides at low temperatures. Upon heating to temperatures used in nanocrystal synthesis, the polysulfide ions react with excess amine to generate H(2)S, which combines with the metal precursor to form metal sulfide. Four different reaction pathways were found, each of which produced H(2)S and the byproducts identified in this Article. Thioamides were identified as an intermediate and were shown to exhibit much more rapid kinetics than sulfur-alkylamine solutions at low temperatures in the synthesis of metal sulfide nanocrystals.

The self-assembly paradigm in chemistry, physics and biology has matured scientifically over the past two-decades to a point of sophistication that one can begin to exploit its numerous attributes in nanofabrication. In what follows we will take a brief look at current thinking about self-ssembly and with some recent examples taken from our own work examine how nanofabrication has benefited from self-assembly

This paper describes the use of chemical cross-linking of ultrathin inorganic nanowires as a bottom-up strategy for nanostructure fabrication as well as a chemical detection platform. Nanowire microfibers are produced by spinning a nanowire dispersion into a cross-linker solution at room temperature. Nanomembranes with thicknesses down to 50 nm were obtained by injecting the nanowire dispersion at the cross-linker-solution/air interface. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the nanowire to amine cross-linkers allowed development of a novel sensing platform for small molecules, like the neurotransmitter serotonin, with detection limits in the picomolar regime.

Herein, we present the structural characterization of the core and surface of colloidally stable ultrathin bismuth sulfide (Bi(2)S(3)) nanowires using X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (EXAFS and XANES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). These three techniques allowed the conclusive structural characterization of the inorganic core as well as the coordination chemistry of the surface ligands of these structures, despite the absence of significant translational periodicity dictated by their ultrathin diameter (1.6 nm) and their polycrystallinity. The atomic structure of the inorganic core is analogous to bulk bismuthinite, but Bi atoms display a remarkably higher coordination number than in the bulk. This can be only explained by a model in which each bismuth atom at the surface (or in close proximity to it) is bound to at least one ligand at any time.

Di-isobutylaluminum hydride and tri-iso-butylaluminum (DIBAL 1, TIBAL 2) are shown to be efficient hydrogenation catalysts for a variety of imines at 100 °C and 100 atm of H2, operating via a hydroalumination/hydrogenolysis mechanism.