Lanthanide and Transition-Metal Complexes for Single-Molecule Magnetism and Circularly Polarized Luminescence

Lanthanide and Transition-Metal Complexes for Single-Molecule Magnetism and Circularly Polarized Luminescence

This community designs molecular complexes of lanthanides and transition metals to create materials with specific magnetic and optical properties, primarily for use in molecular-scale magnetic storage, quantum information processing, and advanced optical security and imaging.

The work centers on the synthesis and structural characterization of coordination complexes, particularly those involving europium, dysprosium, terbium, and cobalt. Recurring themes include the development of single-molecule magnets exhibiting slow magnetic relaxation and magnetic anisotropy, as well as the engineering of circularly polarized luminescence for chiral optical applications. The research frequently employs Schiff base ligands and coordination polymers to tune electronic energy levels and magnetic behavior. Applications named in the literature include magnetic refrigeration, quantum information processing, and security inks.

The largest share of the community's output is found in europium research, accounting for 31.0% of all europium research, and 3,702 papers here. Dysprosium research follows with a 27.6% share, and terbium research with a 26.0% share.

The community comprises 15,213 papers, published most frequently in Inorganic Chemistry, Dalton Transactions, and Polyhedron.

Recent work continues to focus on dysprosium-based single-molecule magnets with high blocking temperatures and the development of chiral materials for circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes.

Papers behind this description

• Ultrahard magnetism from mixed-valence dilanthanide complexes with metal-metal bonding — Science, 2022 — doi:10.1126/science.abl5470
• Soft magnetic hysteresis in a dysprosium amide–alkene complex up to 100 kelvin — Nature, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09138-0
• Finely manipulating room temperature phosphorescence by dynamic lanthanide coordination toward multi-level information security — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47674-x
• Optical Phenomena in Molecule-Based Magnetic Materials — Chemical Reviews, 2024 — doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00840
• Apatite-type gadolinium-based dense MGd4Si3O13 (M = Mg, Ca, and Sr) ceramics: An emerging class of sub-liquid helium temperature magnetic refrigerant — Acta Materialia, 2025 — doi:10.1016/j.actamat.2025.121033
• Fundamentals, Advances, and Artifacts in Circularly Polarized Luminescence (CPL) Spectroscopy — Advanced Materials, 2023 — doi:10.1002/adma.202302279
• Aggregation induced emission dynamic chiral europium(III) complexes with excellent circularly polarized luminescence and smart sensors — Nature Communications, 2024 — doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47246-z
• Rare‐Earth‐Free Mn 30 Fe 20− x Cu x Al 50 Magnetocaloric Materials with Stable Cubic CsCl‐Type Structure for Room‐Temperature Refrigeration — Advanced Functional Materials, 2023 — doi:10.1002/adfm.202310047
• Europium(III) coordination chemistry: structure, spectra and hypersensitivity — Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2024 — doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2024.215927
• Circularly Polarized Luminescence Bioimaging Using Chiral BODIPYs: A Model Scaffold for Advancing Unprecedented CPL Microscopy Using Small Full-Organic Probes — ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2024 — doi:10.1021/acsami.4c14127
• Circularly polarized lanthanide luminescence for advanced security inks — Nature Reviews Chemistry, 2020 — doi:10.1038/s41570-020-00235-4
• Single-Molecule Magnets: From Mn12-ac to dysprosium metallocenes, a travel in time — Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2021 — doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2021.213984
• Recent advances in the development and applications of lanthanide-based luminescent materials: a comprehensive review — Discover Applied Sciences, 2025 — doi:10.1007/s42452-025-07862-w
• Magnetic Hysteresis up to 73 K in a Dysprosium Cyclopentadienyl-Amide Single-Molecule Magnet — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025 — doi:10.1021/jacs.5c10400
• Hydrogen liquefaction by magnetic refrigeration — Minds at UW (University of Wisconsin), 2026 — doi:10.48505/nims.6144
• Electronic energy levels and optical spectra of trivalent lanthanide ions in water – Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Eu(III), Gd(III), Tb(III), Dy(III), Ho(III), Er(III), Tm(III), and Yb(III) — Nature Communications, 2025 — doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65784-y
• Magneto-Optical Readout of a Chiral Single-Molecule Magnet at Telecom Wavelengths — Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2025 — doi:10.1021/jacs.5c17544
• Efficient Chiral Ultraviolet and Deep‐Blue Materials for High‐Performance Circularly Polarized OLEDs — Aggregate, 2025 — doi:10.1002/agt2.70240