A delocalized arene-bridged diuranium single-molecule magnet

Nat Chem. 2011 Jun;3(6):454-60. doi: 10.1038/nchem.1028. Epub 2011 Apr 17.

Abstract

Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) are compounds that, below a blocking temperature, exhibit stable magnetization purely of molecular origin, and not caused by long-range ordering of magnetic moments in the bulk. They thus show promise for applications such as data storage of ultra-high density. The stability of the magnetization increases with increasing ground-state spin and magnetic anisotropy. Transition-metal SMMs typically possess high-spin ground states, but insufficient magnetic anisotropies. Lanthanide SMMs exhibit large magnetic anisotropies, but building high-spin ground states is difficult because they tend to form ionic bonds that limit magnetic exchange coupling. In contrast, the significant covalent bonding and large spin-orbit contributions associated with uranium are particularly attractive for the development of improved SMMs. Here we report a delocalized arene-bridged diuranium SMM. This study demonstrates that arene-bridged polyuranium clusters can exhibit SMM behaviour without relying on the superexchange coupling of spins. This approach may lead to increased blocking temperatures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Magnetics*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
  • Uranium / chemistry*

Substances

  • Uranium

Associated data

  • PubChem-Substance/117356078
  • PubChem-Substance/117356079
  • PubChem-Substance/117356080
  • PubChem-Substance/117356081
  • PubChem-Substance/117356082
  • PubChem-Substance/117356083
  • PubChem-Substance/117356084