Molecular magnets have been at the forefront of the nanomaterials area, as they exhibit promising properties not found in materials produced from top-down methods. These advantages include monodispersity, crystallinity, and true solubility. Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) have been attracting attention not only because of their above properties, but also because they are model systems for a plethora of mesoscopic phenomena. The Mn12 family of SMMs holds a special place in the field. Another research area that has had an explosive growth in the last decade is the area of porous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). We have been trying to tie these two very important classes of materials and synthesize SMM-based MOFs. Toward this goal we pioneered the controlled polymerization of the Mn12 SMM family using diols as linkers,1 and recently developed a synthetic pathway toward the oligomerization of Mn12 SMMs.2 The controlled dimerization of Mn12 single-molecule magnets (SMMs) was achieved via a synthetic route involving the competition between bridging and terminal ligands, namely diols and alcohols. The reaction using a 1:1 ratio of the competing ligands, resulted in the isolation of a new family of covalently-linked dimers of Mn12 SMMs. This is the first step toward controlled growth of SMM oligomeric arrays. In this presentation these developments will be discussed and our work toward SMM-based MOFs.

Controlled growth of Mn12 single-molecule magnet polymers and oligomers

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.