Binary metal selenides are of increasing interest due to their wide range of applications in thermoelectrics, optoelectronics, energy storage, etc. However, inorganic syntheses for binary metal chalcogenides, i.e. solid state or colloidal methods, remain elusive in their reaction kinetics and phase selectivity. However, we can begin to understand reaction mechanisms through the trackable decomposition of molecular precursors, and how different coordinating ligands affect decomposition. This seminar focuses mainly on the work from Shults et al towards understanding decomposition of selenourea in oleylamine (OLA) and oleic acid (OA) for the phase control of iron selenide nanoparticle. Various characterization methods were employed in Shults et al.’s work to aid in determining that OLA and OA induce different chemical environments for selenourea decomposition to yield phase selectivity of Fe7Se8 and FeSe2 nanoparticles, respectively.