Magnetic molecular materials

Magnetic molecular materials are actively investigated along two different but complementary lines of research, that of designing bulk magnets with permanent magnetization, possibly with high critical temperatures, and that of synthesizing large, but finite, magnetic clusters, which can be considered as small magnetic particles of nanoscale size. In both areas the techniques of molecular chemistry are employed to assemble organic, organometallic and inorganic building blocks into complex architectures. Major advances have been achieved, ranging from the development of magnets with a critical temperature higher than room temperature to the use of biological approaches to test quantum tunneling of the magnetization.