Molecular Magnetism – The Attractive Legacy of Olivier Kahn

Abstract

In 1992, Olivier Kahn (France, 1942–1999) defined the research field of molecular magnetism in the preface of his pioneering book[1] as follows: “Molecular magnetism deals with the magnetic properties of isolated molecules and assemblies of molecules. These molecules may contain one or more magnetic centers. Assemblies of molecules are most often found in molecular crystals with very weak interactions between the molecular entities. They can be found in extended systems, built from molecular precursors or “bricks”, in a way that maximizes the inter actions betweenthe bricks and, hopefully, yields bulk magnetic properties.” In that pedagogic textbook, Olivier Kahn remarkably set up some intuitive concepts for rationalizing the exchange inter action between transition metals, and how to elaborate and assemble appropriate molecular building blocks to direct the desired magnetic interactions. An efficient methodology was thus offered to synthetic chemists. Since then, molecular magnetism has continuously attracted chemists to judiciously design new molecule-based architectures, physicists for advanced characterizations of the properties of these new compounds, and theoreticians to understand and predict their fascinating behavior. This research field is intrinsically multidisciplinary, at the interface of molecular and solid-state sciences, with strong potential to be at the forefront of future technological innovative applications.