Strategies for producing cluster-based magnetic arrays

Chelating ligands based on the iminodiacetic acid moiety can be used to control the solvolysis reactions of paramagnetic transition metal ions and allow various cluster-based magnetic materials to be isolated and characterised. This paper discusses the strategies that can be used to favour certain types of supramolecular interaction with the ultimate goal of engineering arrays of 'single molecule magnets'. Ten different systems, which have been crystallographically characterised, are presented to illustrate the approach. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.