Transition Metal Clusters as Single-Molecule Magnets

佛罗里达大学化学系的乔治·克里斯托教授的研究得到了无机，生物无机和有机化学项目的支持，他的研究重点是单分子磁体（SMM）的合成和研究，这些分子可以作为纳米级磁性颗粒。 本研究的目的是详细了解单分子磁性现象，特别是那些直接影响其在磁性器件中的潜在应用的特性，以及通过修改已知的SMM和发现的新SMM来提高工作温度。 对这些分子纳米磁体的化学和物理的更好理解将包括最近发现的交换偏置量子隧穿和量子相干的新现象。新的合成方法将被开发到高核金属配合物，特别是锰，以增加磁各向异性和自旋（S）值超过目前可用的SMMs.本研究集中在磁性和磁性材料，并专注于单分子磁体将扩展这些新的潜在的技术重要的材料的合成和表征。 磁性纳米结构在技术上有着广泛的应用，其中最先进的应用是信息处理。 这项研究将提供潜在的新的先进应用所需的基础知识，包括作为量子计算的量子比特（qubit），利用SMM的量子隧穿特性。 研究生，本科生和博士后将在跨学科无机化学计划中接受合成材料方法学和新单分子磁体表征方面的优秀培训。

Prof. George Christou, of the University of Florida Department of Chemistry, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry program for his research that focuses on the synthesis and study of single molecule magnets (SMMs), individual molecules that can function as nanoscale magnetic particles. The aim of this research is to develop a detailed understanding of the single-molecule magnetism phenomenon, especially those properties directly impacting on their potential application in magnetic devices, as well as the raising of the operating temperatures by modifying known SMMs and new ones that are discovered. An improved understanding of both the chemistry and physics of these molecular nanomagnets will include the recently identified new phenomena of exchange-biased quantum tunneling and quantum coherence. New synthetic procedures will be developed to high nuclearity metal complexes, particularly of manganese to increase magnetoanisotropy and spin (S) values over currently available SMMs.This study concentrated on magnetism and magnetic materials, and focused on single molecule magnets will extend the synthesis and characterization of these new potentially technologically important materials. Magnetic nanostructures are widely used in technology, with the most advanced applications found in information processing. This research will provide the underlying knowledge needed for potential new advanced applications, including as quantum bits (qubits) for quantum computations, taking advantage of the quantum tunneling properties of SMMs. Graduate students, undergraduate students and postdoctoral associates will receive excellent training in synthetic materials methodology and the characterization of new single molecule magnets in an interdisciplinary inorganic chemistry program.