1. with stirring *D. Li and R.B. Kaner J. Am. Chem. Soc., 128, 968-975, 2006. no stirring Most-Accessed J. Am. Chem. Soc. Article: January-March, 2006 Rapid stirring during synthesis leads to homogeneous nucleation and the growth of more nanofibers, while stirring leads to heterogeneous nucleation and produces large aggregates as shown for polyaniline. Although counter intuitive (consider shaking orange juice to break up aggregation) this finding may be quite general for nanoparticle synthesis as poly(m-toluidine) and silica nanostructures also aggregate when stirred during their synthesis.* P.I.: Richard B. Kaner, UCLA Program Director: Dr. Andrew J. Lovinger NSF DMR-0507294 See: http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jacsat/promo/most_accessed/index.html Shape and Aggregation Control of Nanoparticles: Not Shaken, Not Stirred

2. The Intrinsic Nanofibrillar Morphology of Polyaniline P.I.: Richard B. Kaner, UCLA Program Director: Dr. Andrew J. Lovinger NSF DMR-0507294 J. Huang and R.B. Kaner, Chem. Comm., 2006, 367-376. We have discovered that nanofibers appear to be the intrinsic morphology of polyaniline when synthesized in water. During conventional synthesis, as oxidant is slowly added into a solution of monomer, secondary growth occurs which leads to agglomerated particles as seen in the TEM images presented in the Chemical Communications cover (on the left). We have developed two new synthetic approaches to suppress aggregation—1) interfacial polymerization and 2) rapid mixing (shown above).

3. Periodic Table of the Toys P.I.: Richard B. Kaner, UCLA Program Director: Dr. Andrew J. Lovinger NSF DMR-0507294 The students each painted an element, e.g. Se for seal, to create a “Periodic Table of the Toys.” This 5’ X 8’ mural designed by Carol Salame, the president of the UCLA student affiliates chapter of the Am. Chem. Soc. now hangs permanently in the first floor corridor of Edison Middle School as an inspiration to future generations of budding scientists. A just synthesized, warm polyurethane foam “milkshake” is passed around a special education class at Thomas Edison Middle School by PI Ric Kaner (below).