TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Compounds: The metal oxide or metal salt precursor comprises transition metal ions, group (III) metal ions and group (IV) metal ions. The transition metal ion comprises Cd, Zn, Hg, Cu, Ag, Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, Ti or Zr, the group (III) metal ions Al, Ga or In and the group IV metal ion include Sn and Pb. The metal salt precursor comprises metal halides, metal carboxylates, metal carbonates and any other salt capable of dissolving in the ligand and coordinating solvent. The ligand and coordinating solvent are selected from long-chain fatty amines, long-chain fatty acids, phosphonic acids, phosphine oxides and can be the same, preferably dodecylamine (DA), hexadecylamine (HA), octadecylamine (OA), stearic acid (SA), lauric acid (LA), hexylphosphonic acid (HPA), tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA) and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO). The elemental chalcogenic precursor is selected from Se, Te or S. The coordinating solvent has a boiling point range between 100-400degreesC. The nanocrystals that are formed exhibit high crystallinity, high monodispersity and high reproducibility, are quantum rods or dots and can be rice shaped or branched.Preferred Method: The formation of nanocrystals may be pre-selected by varying the elemental chalcogenic precursor that is introduced into the metal complex at step (2). Steps (1) and (2) are carried out in the same vessel. The size range close to monodisperse CdSe dots ranges from approximately 1.5 to more than 25nm SPECIFIC COMPOUNDS - The nanocrystals that are formed are CdSe, CdTe or CdS. the metal salt precursor is cadmium acetate, cadmium carbonate or cadmium oxide    EXAMPLE - CdTe dots were synthesized by loading CdO (0.0514g, 0.4 mmol), tetradecylphosphonic acid (TDPA) (0.2232g, 0.8mmol) and trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) (3.78g) into a flask then heated to 300-320degreesC under argon flow to dissolve the CdO. The mixture was maintained at 320degreesC for 10-15 minutes to obtain an optically clear, colorless solution. This solution was heated to 360degreesC. In a glove box Te powder (0.0664g) was dissolved in tributylphosphine (TBP)/toluene (1.8/0.2g)) to obtain a solution, which was then injected into the above reaction flask at 360degreesC. After injection, the nanocrystals grew at 250degreesC. Nanocrystal growth was monitored by removing aliquots for UV-Vis measurements. After the nanocrystals reached the desired size, the heating mantle was removed quickly and the reaction solvent was cooled to stop the reaction. After the temperature of the solution was below 80degreesC, the nanocrystals were precipitated from the reaction mixture by adding approximately 10ml of methanol. The nanocrystal precipitate was separated by centrifugation and decantation. Nanocrystals were either stored as precipitate or dried in a vacuum.