Unexpected reactivity on the part of oxide nanoparticles that enables their transformation into phosphides or sulfides by solution-phase reaction with trioctylphosphine (TOP) or sulfur, respectively, at temperatures of <= 370 degrees C is reported. Impressively, single-phase phosphide products are produced, in some cases with controlled anisotropy and narrow polydispersity. The generality of the approach is demonstrated for Ni, Fe, and Co, and while manganese oxides are not sufficiently reactive toward TOP to form phosphides, they do yield MnS upon reaction with sulfur. The reactivity can be attributed to the small size of the precursor particles, since attempts to convert bulk oxides or even particles with sizes approaching 50 nm were unsuccessful. Overall, the use of oxide nanoparticles, which are easily accessed via reaction of inexpensive salts with air, in lieu of organometallic reagents (e.g., metal carbonyls), which may or may not be transformed into metal nanoparticles, greatly simplifies the production of nanoscale phosphides and sulfides. The precursor nanoparticles can easily be produced in large quantities and stored in the solid state without concern that "oxidation" will limit their reactivity.