A giant spin molecule with ninety-six parallel unpaired electrons

• Main Authors: Lei Qin, Hao-Lan Zhang, Yuan-Qi Zhai, Hiroyuki Nojiri, Christian Schröder, Yan-Zhen Zheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-04-01
• Series: iScience
• Subjects: Chemistry; Inorganic Chemistry; Molecular Inorganic Chemistry; Magnetism
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221003187

Summary: Unpaired electrons which are essential for organic radicals and magnetic materials are hardly to align parallel, especially upon the increasing of spin numbers. Here, we show that the antiferromagnetic interaction in the largest Cr(III)-RE (rare earth) cluster {Cr10RE18} leads to 96 parallel electrons, forming a ground spin state ST of 48 for RE = Gd. This is so far the third largest ground spin state achieved in one molecule. Moreover, by using the classical Monte Carlo simulation, the exchange coupling constants Jij can be determined. Spin dynamics simulation reveals that the strong Zeeman effects of 18 Gd(III) ions stabilize the ground ferrimagnetic state and hinder the magnetization reversals of these spins. In addition, the dysprosium(III) analog is an exchange-biasing single-molecule magnet. We believe that the ferrimagnetic approach and analytical protocol established in this work can be applied generally in constructing and analyzing giant spin molecules.