Synthesis and Characterization of Organic-Based Molecular Magnetic Materials

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

Professor Paul M. Lahti, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst is supported by the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program for his work that aims to discover new ways to assemble molecules and ions to make materials with controlled magnetic properties. Magnetic materials are worth billions in the marketplace, both for existing technologies such as information storage and electronics shielding, and for developing technologies such as molecular electronics and nano-electronics. Understanding how to make designed magnetic properties as a function of structure is an overarching goal of this work. Stable organic radicals will be designed to assemble the radical spins into crystal arrays and polymer chains. In many cases, the radicals will be designed to link with metal ions that have unpaired spin, to make hybrid materials that combine some of the best properties of organic systems (synthetic variability, crystalline design capabilities) with those of inorganic systems (strong magnetic moments, possibilities to combine magnetic and ionic conducting behaviors). The most important intellectual and scientific merits of the project are twofold: (1) discovery of guidelines that related molecular structure and multi-molecular assemblies to electronic properties, particularly magnetism; and (2) in the best case, discovery of new materials with unusual and novel magneto-electronic properties. With this Award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program supports the research activities of Professor Paul M. Lahti at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst where the body of crystal information gathered as part of this project will be placed into publications and crystallographic databases, making it available to any of the wide variety of research areas that have need to understand how molecules can be assembled in the solid state in a controlled manner. The understanding of how electrons interact in complicated assemblies of molecules, in polymers, and in crystalline solids will be of general use to anyone interested in molecular structure and its relationship to electronic behavior at the molecular level, as well as in materials science for technological applications. Graduate students in this project will benefit from international exchange of expertise and the development of direct ties with scientists from Brazil and Spain, in addition to gaining an unusual combination of skills in molecular synthesis and electronic physics. Such training is extremely important in the modern technoscientific marketplace, where projects have short timelines and workers need to be flexible, adaptable, and multi-talented.