Multifunctional coordination compounds: Design and properties

Cleverly designed molecular building blocks provide chemists with the tools of a powerful molecular-scale construction set. They enable them to engine er materials having a predictable order and useful solid-state properties. Hence, it is in the realm of supramolecular chemistry to follow a strategy for synthesizing materials which combine a selected set of properties, for instance from the areas of magnetism, photophysics and electronics. As a su ccessful approach, host/guest solids which are based on extended anionic, h omo- and bimetallic oxalato-bridped transition-metal compounds with two-and three-dimensional connectivities have been investigated. In this report, a brief review is given on the structural aspects of this class of compounds followed by a presentation of a thermal and magnetic study for two distinc t, heterometallic oxalato-bridged layer compounds.