Organic Molecular Magnetic Materials

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectural Merits. Magnetic materials are worth billions in existing technologies. Chemical structure-based designs of new materials have much promise for new, useful types of electronic behavior. The PI proposes to make molecules with attached functional groups, which give specific magnetic and/or conductive properties. Stable organic radicals will be synthesized that are expected to self-assemble, for example, by using strongly directional hydrogen bonds. These organic pure solids, mixed solids, and hybrid systems (polymers containing radicals) will be tested for magnetic behavior and some for conductivity of electrical current as well. The most important scientific goals are: (1) to find good synthetic and purification methods to give materials that are stable and have potentially useful magneto-electronic properties; and (2) to discover new relationships linking molecular structure and crystal packing to magnetic and/or conductive properties. Broader Impacts. Graduate students in this project will benefit from international exchange of expertise and collaborative ties, in particular with scientists from Brazil and Japan. Training will be highly interdisciplinary, including ways to make molecules, to determine how they assemble into solid packing patterns, and to correlate the patterns with magnetic or conductive behavior. Interdisciplinary training is vital in the modern techno-scientific marketplace, where projects have short timelines and workers must be adaptable and multi-talented. Communication skills will be emphasized by frequent group presentations, as well as presentations at national, regional, and/or local meetings. The group has in recent years had more women than men, a reversal of the situation from 20 years ago. This made the group a "magnet" for other women to feel comfortable in joining a group that does much organic synthesis and math-oriented physical chemistry. For example, four of five Ph.D. degrees completed during 2006 in the Lahti group went to women. Interest in the work by female potential graduate students in recent entering classes has remained strong. The proposed work will also be linked to efforts to attract students from the UMass-Amherst-led Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP), an NSF-supported program that funds under-represented minority groups to pursue graduate scientific careers on our campus (http://www.neagep.org). Dr. Lahti and his group have been part of on-campus hospitability and recruiting of visiting students who are considering NEAGEP. This program will be an important resource for recruiting graduate student candidates from under-represented minority backgrounds into the field of materials science.