Molecular magnetism of lanthanide: Advances and perspectives

The discovery of the first example of lanthanide-based single molecule magnets (Ln-SMMs), a revolutionary progress, marked the beginning of a new age for SMMs, has greatly inspired researchers to invest their efforts in the design of high-performance SMMs by introducing lanthanide ions, especially dysprosium ions. Lanthanide ions have always been considered as excellent candidates to construct single molecule magnets for high-density data storage and quantum calculation. Impressive progress has been made in field of Ln-SMMs where synthetic chemists have played a major role through producing suitable systems for detailed study by physicists and materials scientists. In this review, some recent breakthroughs changing the perspective of the field will be highlighted with special emphasis on the synthetic efforts made in this fascinating and challenging field. Their findings on the elucidation of relaxation dynamics and the synthetic strategies towards high-performance Ln-SMMs provide valuable insights required to optimize the contribution of an Ising type spin to a molecular magnet and indicate the directions to which further synthetic efforts should be focused. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.