Scientists have long employed lanthanide elements in the design of materials with extraordinary magnetic properties, including the strongest magnets known, SmCo5 and Nd2Fe14B. The properties of these materials are largely a product of fine-tuning the interaction between the lanthanide ion and the crystal lattice. Recently, synthetic chemists have begun to utilize f-elements—both lanthanides and actinides—for the construction of single-molecule magnets, resulting in a rapid expansion of the field. The desirable magnetic characteristics of the f-elements are contingent upon the interaction between the single-ion electron density and the crystal field environment in which it is placed. Taking advantage of this interaction, new approaches for synthesizing single-molecules magnets based upon lanthanide ions will be presented. Focus will be on recent work involving: (i) the use of an equatorial ligand field to create erbium(III) single-molecule magnets, (ii) high-temperature magnetic blocking and magneto-structural correlations in a series of dysprosium(III) metallocenium complexes, and (iii) the synthesis and characterization of radical-bridged dilanthanide complexes exhibiting strong magnetic exchange and high blocking temperatures. In addition, a means of achieving an electronic structure similar to lanthanide complexes with transition metals will be elaborated.

Lanthanide-based single-molecule magnets with high blocking temperatures

2019 Spring National Meeting

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