TABLE OF CONTENTS Suppose that we wanted to copy a machine, such as a brain, that contained a trillion components. Today we could not do such a thing (even were we equipped with the necessary knowledge) if we had to build each component separately. However, if we had a million construction machines that could each build a thousand parts per second, our task would take only minutes. In the decades to come, new fabrication machines will make this possible. Most present-day manufacturing is based on shaping bulk materials. In contrast, the field called 'nanotechnology' aims to build materials and machinery by placing each atom and molecule precisely where we want it. Marvin L. Minsky
The controlled and directed organization of molecular building blocks (MBBs) and their subsequent assembly into nanostructures is one fundamental theme of bottom-up nanotechnology. Such an organization can be in the form of association, aggregation, arrangement, or synthesis of MBBs through van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, attractive intermolecular polar interactions, electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic effects, etc. The ultimate goal of assemblies of nanoscale molecular building blocks is to create nanostructures with improved properties and functionalities heretofore unavailable to conventional materials and devices. Fabrication of nanostructures demands appropriate methods and molecular building blocks (MBBs).
Through the controlled and directed assembly of nanoscale molecular building blocks one should be able to alter and engineer materials with desired properties. For example, ceramics and metals produced through controlled consolidation of their MBBs have been shown to possess properties substantially...
