The properties of nanoparticles are strongly dependent on size and shape. It is therefore important to synthesize these materials using a methodology that is able to finely control these structural parameters and the corresponding polydispersity degree. In this course we focus on synthetic aspects for the design of nanostructured materials. We describe different approaches including both the bottom-up(includes both chemical and physical methods) and the top-down methods(mainly physical methods) for the synthesis of nanostructured materials. The course will then focus on different type of nanostructures with a special emphasis on carbon nanotubes(CNT), metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, core-shell nanostructures and self assembly of these nanostructures. The dependence of various properties (dielectric, magnetic and optical) with size will be discussed. (from nptel.ac.in)