Full disclosure: the practical side of nanoscale total synthesis

Colloidal hybrid nanoparticles merge multiple distinct materials into single particles, producing nanostructures that often exhibit synergistic properties and multifunctionality. As the complexity of such nanostructures continues to expand and the design criteria become increasingly stringent, the synthetic pathways required to access such materials are growing in sophistication. Multistep pathways are typically needed to generate complex hybrid nanoparticles, and these synthetic protocols have important conceptual analogies to the total synthesis framework used by chemists to construct complex organic molecules. This issue of ACS Nano includes a new nanoscale total synthesis: a five-step route to Co(x)O(y)-Pt-(CdSe@CdS)-Pt-Co(x)O(y) nanorods, a material which consists of CdSe@CdS nanorods that have Pt and cobalt oxide (Co(x)O(y)) at the tips. In addition to the conceptual analogies between molecular and nanoparticle total syntheses, there are practical analogies, as well, which are important for ensuring the reproducible and high-yield production of multicomponent nanostructured products with the highest possible purities. This Perspective highlights some of the practical considerations that are important for all nanoparticle syntheses but that become magnified significantly when multiple sequential reactions are required to generate a target product. These considerations include detailed reporting of reaction setups, experimental and workup procedures, hazards, yields of all intermediates and final products, complete data analysis, and separation techniques for ensuring high purity.