Research activities

Research in Molecular Materials and Magnetism

Among the different approaches towards the synthesis of materials with intriguing physical properties, the use of molecular modules and their controlled assembly into architectures of various dimensionalities have been a major focus of researches for the past 30 years.

This molecular strategy has led to the rational design of numerous new materials including systems with fascinating magnetic, conducting or superconducting properties but, also those with rare or in some cases previously unknown physical behavior, such as Spin-Crossover complexes, Single-Molecule Magnets and Single-Chain Magnets. Another advantage of the “bottom-up” approach is the fine control over physical properties afforded by modification of the molecular precursors.

The work of the Molecular Materials & Magnetism (M3) group is focused on molecule-based materials exhibiting electronically active (i.e. displaying charge or exciton transport properties) and/or magnetic properties as well as their processing into useful forms such as nanocomposites, liquid crystals, films or solutions. These molecule-based systems are built from transition metal complexes, organic radicals and extended aromatic systems. Our research can thus be described as the synthesis, characterization and use of molecular materials resulting from a rationally engineered bond architecture in order to promote and control interesting electromagnetic and more generally physical properties.

Main themes

Five main themes of research are currently being developed in the Molecular Materials & Magnetism team: (i) macroconjugated polyaromatic molecules, (ii) molecule-based magnets and conducting magnets (with high critical temperature), (iii) single-molecule and single-chain magnets (and their derivatives) with high blocking temperatures or photo-switching properties, (iv) spin-crossover and paramagnetic metal-metal bonded complexes, and (v) magnetic and/or electro-active solutions and liquid-crystals. In all these projects, our approach is comprehensive, from synthesis to detailed studies of the physical properties and their theoretical description. These different projects benefit from many national and international collaborations and also our involvement in different national and European networks.


The Molecular Materials & Magnetism (M3) team is a research group lead by Rodolphe Clérac since 2001, and composed of Harald Bock, Fabien Durola, Pierre Dechambenoit, Corine Mathonière, Xavier Brilland and  Mathieu Rouzières.
The M3 research group is working at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal (CRPP), a CNRS scientific center situated on the campus of the Université de Bordeaux.


High performance 2D conductive magnetsthrough redox active coordination chemistry: Design of novel magnetically ordered and conductive 2D molecule-based materials with tunable properties from the bulk to the single layer…
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Cyclic Aromatic Nano-Ribbons: Design and organic synthesis of topologically non-trivial macrocyclic twisted graphene nano-ribbons. Studies of their aromatic, spectroscopic and chiroptical properties…
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Publications

Most significant publications

[678]. P. Perlepe, I. Oyarzabal, A. Mailman, M. Yquel, M. Platunov, I. Dovgaliuk, M. Rouzières, P. Négrier, D. Mondieig, E. A. Suturina, M.A. Dourges, S. Bonhommeau, R. A. Musgrave, K. S. Pedersen, D. Chernyshov, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, C. Mathonière, R. Clérac, “Metal-organic magnets with large coercivity and ordering temperatures up to 242°C”, Science, Vol. 370, Issue 6516, pp. 587-592, (2020) – 10.1126/science.abb3861Abstract – Reprint Full text

[664]. J.L. Liu, K.S. Pedersen, S.M. Greer, I. Oyarzabal, A. Mondal, S. Hill, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, A. Tressaud, E. Durand, J.R. Long and R. Clérac, “Access to Heteroleptic Fluorido-Cyanido Complexes with a Large Magnetic Anisotropy by Fluoride Abstraction”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 59, 10306 -10310, (2020) – 10.1002/ange.201914934

[647]. X. Ma, E. A. Suturina, M. Rouzières, M. Platunov, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, R. Clérac, P. Dechambenoit, “Using Redox-Active π Bridging Ligand as a Control Switch of Intramolecular Magnetic Interactions”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 141, 7721-7725 (2019) – 10.1021/jacs.9b03044

[655]. J. Vollbrecht, C. Wiebeler, H. Bock, S. Schumacher, H.-S. Kitzerow, Curved Polar Dibenzocoronene Esters and Imides versus Their Planar Centrosymmetric Homologs: Photophysical and Optoelectronic Analysis, J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 4483−4492 (2019) – 10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b10730

[652]. G. Farias, D. S. Simeao, T. S. Moreira, P. L. dos Santos, A. Bentaleb, E. Girotto, A. P. Monkman, J. Eccher, F. Durola, H. Bock, B. de Souza, I. H. Bechtold, An unusual plank-shaped nematogen with a graphene nanoribbon core, J. Mater. Chem. C, 7, 12080-12085 (2019) – 10.1039/c9tc03704g

[646]. C. A. M. Salla, G. Farias, M. Rouzières, P. Dechambenoit, F. Durola, H. Bock, B. de Souza,* I. H. Bechtold, Persistent Solid-State Phosphorescence and Delayed Fluorescence at Room Temperature by a Twisted Hydrocarbon, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 58, 6982-6986 (2019) – 10.1002/anie.201901672

[657]. A. Robert, G. Naulet, H. Bock, N. Vanthuyne, M. Jean, M. Giorgi, Y. Carissan, C. Aroulanda, A. Scalabre, E. Pouget, F. Durola and Y. Coquerel, Cyclobishelicenes: Shape-Persistent Figure-Eight Aromatic Molecules with Promising Chiroptical Properties, Chem. Eur. J., 25, 14364-14369, (2019) – 10.1002/chem.201902637

[644]. G. Naulet, S. Huet-Exiga, H. Bock, F. Durola, Synthesis of a [20]phenacene dodeca-ester by controlled condensation of seven naphthalene-based building blocks, Org. Chem. Front., 6, 994-997 (2019) – 10.1039/c9qo00125e

[639]. G. Naulet, L. Sturm, A. Robert, P. Dechambenoit, F. Röhricht, R. Herges, H. Bock, F. Durola, Cyclic tris-[5]helicenes with single and triple
twisted Mobius topologies and Mobius aromaticity, Chem. Sci., 9, 8930-8936 (2018) – 10.1039/c8sc02877j

[665]. X. Ma, E. A. Suturina, M. Rouzières, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, R. Clérac and P. Dechambenoit, “A heteroleptic diradical Cr(III) complex with extended spin delocalization and large intramolecular magnetic exchange”, Chem. Commun., 56, 4906-4909, (2020) – 10.1039/d0cc00548g

[647]. X. Ma, E. A. Suturina, M. Rouzières, M. Platunov, F. Wilhelm, A. Rogalev, R. Clérac, P. Dechambenoit, “Using Redox-Active π Bridging Ligand as a Control Switch of Intramolecular Magnetic Interactions”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 141, 7721-7725 (2019) – 10.1021/jacs.9b03044

[628]. X. Ma, E. A. Suturina, S. De, P. Négrier, M. Rouzières, R. Clérac, P. Dechambenoit, “A Redox-Active Bridging Ligand to Promote Spin Delocalization,
High-Spin Complexes, and Magnetic Multi-Switchability”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 57, 7841-7845 (2018) – 10.1002/anie.201803842