The notion of molecular "wires" has captured the imagination of chemists and physicists in semiconductor nanotechnology.Missing are clear concepts of what this term means and how it relates to structure and function.Although such wires are often portrayed as single conductive paths,and the measurement of single molecule conductance has emerged as a rich and provocative research area,most often such wires are used in ensembles connecting metallic surfaces.Moreover,such wires often require a low dimensional π-conjugation backbone that can carry electrons through a distance of several nanometers.Directly addressing the conductivity of a distinct molecule,for instance,by assembling an electronic junction connected by the molecular wire,is still fraught with problems.