EPR characterization of molecular magneto-structural correlations under pressure

分子磁学是一个多学科的研究领域，专注于使用分子方法来设计、创造、研究和使用新型磁性材料，其中的性质可以在分子水平上进行调节。这个项目将研究压力对分子团簇(分子纳米磁体)的影响，从简单的单体和二聚体到复杂的多金属分子。压力的使用提供了提供关于同一分子内结构和磁性之间关系的详细信息的可能性，即键长和键角的变化如何改变相邻金属离子上未配对的电子相互通信的方式？到目前为止，已发表的关于压力下多金属体系的研究仅涉及到我们制作的原型单分子磁体(SMM)[Mn12]、[Mn4]立方烷和六金属[Mn6]-肟络合物。虽然在所有情况下都观察到了磁性的明显变化，但对前两种情况提出的解释有点推测，因为它们不涉及结构研究。爱丁堡小组首次将高压磁学和结晶学相结合，为Mn6家族中的一个成员建立了明确的磁结构相关性(MSCs)。该项目旨在将这些世界领先的结构和磁性表征技术与(首次)塔拉哈西NHMFL开发的高压高频电子顺磁共振(HFEPR)技术相结合，以提供前所未有的详细了解顺磁材料的结构-性能关系。

Molecular magnetism represents a multidisciplinary research field focused on the employment of molecular approaches to design, create, study and use new classes of magnetic materials in which properties can be tuned at the molecular level. This project will examine the effects of pressure on molecular clusters (molecular nanomagnets) ranging from simple monomers and dimers, to complex polymetallic molecules. The use of pressure offers the potential to provide detailed information concerning the relationship between structure and magnetic properties within the same molecule, i.e. how do changes in bond lengths and angles change the way unpaired electrons on neighbouring metal ions communicate with each other? To date the only published studies of polymetallic systems under pressure involve the prototype single-molecule magnet (SMM) [Mn12], a [Mn4] cubane, and a hexametallic [Mn6]-oxime complex made by us. Although clear changes in magnetic properties are observed in all cases, the proposed explanations for the former two are somewhat speculative since they do not involve structural studies. The Edinburgh group were the first to combine high pressure magnetometry and crystallography, establishing clear magneto-structural correlations (MSCs) as a function of pressure for one member of the Mn6 family.This project aims to combine these world-leading structural and magnetic characterization techniques with (for the very first time) high pressure High-Frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (HFEPR), a technique developed at the NHMFL in Tallahassee, to afford unprecedented and detailed insight into the structure-property relationship of paramagnetic materials.