MOLECULAR CONDUCTORS AND MAGNETS - DIFFERENT STRATEGIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The different approaches used by the authors for the synthesis of new molecular materials exhibiting simultaneously magnetic and conducting properties are presented here. The aim is to prepare materials where a magnetic and a conducting sublattice coexist and/or interact in order to obtain either coexistence of properties or coupling between them. The strategy described is a hybrid one that combines various types of inorganic metal complexes with planar organic pi-electron donors of th e TTF family or with organic matrices made of conducting polymers. The re are four main combinations: (i) magnetic polyoxometalates with orga nic donors-this strategy has already produced more than 10 radical sal ts where a magnetic character coexists with a conducting or semiconduc ting one; (ii) small magnetic anions with organic donors-in this case one of the most promising results has been the synthesis of one of the very few known examples of magnetic molecular metals; (iii) ferro-and ferrimagnetic oxalate-bridged bimetallic layers with organic donors; (iv) magnetic polyoxometalates incorporated into electrodeposited film s of conducting polymers. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.