LoCo · Low Coordinate Transition Metal Single Molecule Magnets
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-02-13 → 2019-08-27
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
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Results in brief
Low Coordinate Transition Metal Single Molecule Magnets
"There has been a remarkable (re)awakening of interest in the organometallic chemistry of the late 1st row metal elements Fe, Co and Ni in recent years as the need to find earth abundant alternatives to the rapidly depleting stocks of the heavier group 8-10 congeners (Ru, Rh and Pd) has gained recognition. Magnets are ubiquitous in modern society, with applications that range from biomedical imaging and cancer therapy through information technology to defence and national security. In all of these aspects, miniaturisation is a highly desirable property. Chemists can achieve this by building families of molecule-based magnetic materials using a ""bottom-up"" approach to generate new materials with tuneable/designer physical properties. These can then (ultimately) be exploited in collaboration with condensed matter physicists, theoreticians and materials scientists for ‘real-world’ applications. There are just a few two-coordinate, open-shell transition metal complexes (all of 1st row metals) in the literature. This remarkably small number results from (i) the difficulty in finding appropriate ligand sets that stabilise two-coordination and prevent aggregation to higher coordination numbers and (ii) the perceived extreme sensitivity of such species to air and moisture. As a result, a comprehensive understanding of the structures, physical properties and reactivity of very low-coordinate 1st row metal species remains embryonic at best. Given the enormous potential of such systems to exhibit novel reactivity and materials applications, a systematic study of new examples of two-coordinate metal complexes would lead not to only to major advances in understanding fundamental chemistry, but offer new opportunities for real-world applications. The objectives are: - Development of new two coordinate Ni complexes with different 6-/7-membered ring NHCs - Study of their magnetic properties and potencial SMM behaviour - Development of calculations of the properties of the prepared complexes - Extension of the study to other first row metal NHC-complexes"
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Fellow, Maialen Espinal (MEV) from the University of Bath, outlines a case for support to work alongside the Host, Prof Mike Whittlesey (MKW: University of Bath, UK), on the design of novel two-coordinate complexes of Ni, Co and Fe as single molecule magnets (SMMs).The rationale for the work is the 2013 report by the MKWs group of a cationic Ni(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complex that exhibited the first example of SMM behavior observed in a mononuclear Ni complex. SMMs are the focus of considerable multidisciplinary investigations because of their potential for high-density information storage and quantum computing. Most work until now has focussed on lanthanides, but there has been an increasing realisation that organotransition metal derived SMMs may offer significant benefits in terms of their ability to stabilise different electronic environments as a result of being able to adopt unique coordination geometries. MEVs approach will be to use large ring NHC ligands and probe the influence of ring size, substituents, coordination mode and resulting molecular geometry on magnetic behaviour. The project will utilise the research experience of the applicant in synthetic chemistry to make new compounds in Bath, but most importantly, provide her a unique opportunity to develop new skills for progression of her career by exposure to new techniques and methodologies through periods of secondment to internationally leading laboratories for studies of magnetism (Prof Annie Powell (AKP), Karlsruhe, Germany), paramagnetism via Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (Prof Damien Murphy (DMM), Cardiff, UK) and computational chemistry (Prof Stuart Macgregor (SAM), Heriot-Watt, UK).
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY OF BATH · BATHCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union