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However, the controlled bottom-up synthesis of ultrasmall and structurally uniform nanodiamonds has remained a challenge, with existing methods producing heterogeneous materials that vary in size, morphology, impurity content and defect quality. Here we show that well-defined, hydrogen-terminated molecular nanographenes serve as chemically confined precursors for high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis of ultrasmall (3\u20134\u2009nm), monodisperse and highly crystalline molecular nanodiamonds with only a single\n                    <jats:italic>sp<\/jats:italic>\n                    <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    surface reconstruction and produced on a milligram scale. The same bottom-up platform also enables a two-component strategy for incorporating silicon- and germanium-based colour centres during synthesis, yielding SiV\n                    <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    and GeV\n                    <jats:sup>\u2212<\/jats:sup>\n                    emitters without ion implantation, irradiation or post-treatment. Because the nanographene precursor defines both the confined carbon framework and the hydrogen content, this approach provides intrinsic, precursor-level control over nanodiamond size and composition, particularly in the low-nanometre regime relevant for biological and quantum sensing. Molecular nanographenes, ultralarge polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, therefore, establish a scalable and modular route to high-quality molecular and fluorescent nanodiamonds and offer a general design principle for tailored quantum materials and nanoscale devices.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-026-10669-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T15:02:21Z","timestamp":1779807741000},"page":"102-108","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Bottom-up synthesis of molecular nanodiamond from 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