Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS 1 article published in JoVE Chemistry Hydroquinone Based Synthesis of Gold Nanorods Silvia Picciolini1, Dora Mehn2, Isaac Ojea-Jiménez2, Furio Gramatica1, Carlo Morasso1 1Labion - Laboratory of Nanomedicine and Clinical Biophotonics, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS (Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation), 2Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), European Commission Joint Research Centre This paper describes a protocol for the synthesis of gold nanorods, based on the use of hydroquinone as reducing agent, plus the different mechanisms for controlling their size and aspect ratio.