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    Single-Electron Lanthanide-Lanthanide Bonds Inside Fullerenes toward Robust Redox-Active Molecular Magnets
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2019) Liu, Fupin; Spree, Lukas; Krylov, Denis S.; Velkos, Georgios; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    A characteristic phenomenon of lanthanide-fullerene interactions is the transfer of metal valence electrons to the carbon cage. With early lanthanides such as La, a complete transfer of six valence electrons takes place for the metal dimers encapsulated in the fullerene cage. However, the low energy of the σ-type Ln-Ln bonding orbital in the second half of the lanthanide row limits the Ln2 → fullerene transfer to only five electrons. One electron remains in the Ln-Ln bonding orbital, whereas the fullerene cage with a formal charge of -5 is left electron-deficient. Such Ln2@C80 molecules are unstable in the neutral form but can be stabilized by substitution of one carbon atom by nitrogen to give azafullerenes Ln2@C79N or by quenching the unpaired electron on the fullerene cage by reacting it with a chemical such as benzyl bromide, transforming one sp2 carbon into an sp3 carbon and yielding the monoadduct Ln2@C80(CH2Ph). Because of the presence of the Ln-Ln bonding molecular orbital with one electron, the Ln2@C79N and Ln2@C80(R) molecules feature a unique single-electron Ln-Ln bond and an unconventional +2.5 oxidation state of the lanthanides.In this Account, which brings together metallofullerenes, molecular magnets, and lanthanides in unconventional valence states, we review the progress in the studies of dimetallofullerenes with single-electron Ln-Ln bonds and highlight the consequences of the unpaired electron residing in the Ln-Ln bonding orbital for the magnetic interactions between Ln ions. Usually, Ln···Ln exchange coupling in polynuclear lanthanide compounds is weak because of the core nature of 4f electrons. However, when interactions between Ln centers are mediated by a radical bridge, stronger coupling may be achieved because of the diffuse nature of radical-based orbitals. Ultimately, when the role of a radical bridge is played by a single unpaired electron in the Ln-Ln bonding orbital, the strength of the exchange coupling is increased dramatically. Giant exchange coupling in endohedral Ln2 dimers is combined with a rather strong axial ligand field exerted on the lanthanide ions by the fullerene cage and the excess electron density localized between two Ln ions. As a result, Ln2@C79N and Ln2@C80(CH2Ph) compounds exhibit slow relaxation of magnetization and exceptionally high blocking temperatures for Ln = Dy and Tb. At low temperatures, the [Ln3+-e-Ln3+] fragment behaves as a single giant spin. Furthermore, the Ln-Ln bonding orbital in dimetallofullerenes is redox-active, which allows its population to be changed by electrochemical reactions, thus changing the magnetic properties because the change in the number of electrons residing in the Ln-Ln orbital affects the magnetic structure of the molecule. © 2019 American Chemical Society.
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    Nd─Nd Bond in Ih and D5h Cage Isomers of Nd2@C80 Stabilized by Electrophilic CF3 Addition
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2023) Yang, Wei; Velkos, Georgios; Rosenkranz, Marco; Schiemenz, Sandra; Liu, Fupin; Popov, Alexey A.
    Synthesis of molecular compounds with metal–metal bonds between 4f elements is recognized as one of the fascinating milestones in lanthanide metallochemistry. The main focus of such studies is on heavy lanthanides due to the interest in their magnetism, while bonding between light lanthanides remains unexplored. In this work, the Nd─Nd bonding in Nd-dimetallofullerenes as a case study of metal–metal bonding between early lanthanides is demonstrated. Combined experimental and computational study proves that pristine Nd2@C80 has an open shell structure with a single electron occupying the Nd─Nd bonding orbital. Nd2@C80 is stabilized by a one-electron reduction and further by the electrophilic CF3 addition to [Nd2@C80]−. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals the formation of two Nd2@C80(CF3) isomers with D5h-C80 and Ih-C80 carbon cages, both featuring a single-electron Nd─Nd bond with the length of 3.78–3.79 Å. The mutual influence of the exohedral CF3 group and endohedral metal dimer in determining the molecular structure of the adducts is analyzed. Unlike Tb or Dy analogs, which are strong single-molecule magnets with high blocking temperature of magnetization, the slow relaxation of magnetization in Nd2@Ih-C80(CF3) is detectable via out-of-phase magnetic susceptibility only below 3 K and in the presence of magnetic field.
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    Magnetic Hysteresis at 10 K in Single Molecule Magnet Self‐Assembled on Gold
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Chen, Chia-Hsiang; Spree, Lukas; Koutsouflakis, Emmanouil; Krylov, Denis S.; Liu, Fupin; Brandenburg, Ariane; Velkos, Georgios; Schimmel, Sebastian; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Federov, Alexander; Weschke, Eugen; Choueikani, Fadi; Ohresser, Philippe; Dreiser, Jan; Büchner, Bernd; Popov, Alexey A.
    Tremendous progress in the development of single molecule magnets (SMMs) raises the question of their device integration. On this route, understanding the properties of low‐dimensional assemblies of SMMs, in particular in contact with electrodes, is a necessary but difficult step. Here, it is shown that fullerene SMM self‐assembled on metal substrate from solution retains magnetic hysteresis up to 10 K. Fullerene‐SMM DySc2N@C80 and Dy2ScN@C80 are derivatized to introduce a thioacetate group, which is used to graft SMMs on gold. Magnetic properties of grafted SMMs are studied by X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism and compared to the films of nonderivatized fullerenes prepared by sublimation. In self‐assembled films, the magnetic moments of the Dy ions are preferentially aligned parallel to the surface, which is different from the disordered orientation of endohedral clusters in nonfunctionalized fullerenes. Whereas chemical derivatization reduces the blocking temperature of magnetization and narrows the hysteresis of Dy2ScN@C80, for DySc2N@C80 equally broad hysteresis is observed as in the fullerene multilayer. Magnetic bistability in the DySc2N@C80 grafted on gold is sustained up to 10 K. This study demonstrates that self‐assembly of fullerene‐SMM derivatives offers a facile solution‐based procedure for the preparation of functional magnetic sub‐monolayers with excellent SMM performance.
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    Robust Single Molecule Magnet Monolayers on Graphene and Graphite with Magnetic Hysteresis up to 28 K
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Spree, Lukas; Liu, Fupin; Neu, Volker; Rosenkranz, Marco; Velkos, Georgios; Wang, Yaofeng; Schiemenz, Sandra; Dreiser, Jan; Gargiani, Pierluigi; Valvidares, Manuel; Chen, Chia-Hsiang; Büchner, Bernd; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    The chemical functionalization of fullerene single molecule magnet Tb2@C80(CH2Ph) enables the facile preparation of robust monolayers on graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite from solution without impairing their magnetic properties. Monolayers of endohedral fullerene functionalized with pyrene exhibit magnetic bistability up to a temperature of 28 K. The use of pyrene terminated linker molecules opens the way to devise integration of spin carrying units encapsulated by fullerene cages on graphitic substrates, be it single-molecule magnets or qubit candidates. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
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    Optical Anisotropy and Momentum-Dependent Excitons in Dibenzopentacene Single Crystals
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2022) Graf, Lukas; Liu, Fupin; Naumann, Marco; Roth, Friedrich; Debnath, Bipasha; Büchner, Bernd; Krupskaya, Yulia; Popov, Alexey A.; Knupfer, Martin
    High-quality single crystals of the organic semiconductor (1,2;8,9)-dibenzopentacene were grown via physical vapor transport. The crystal structure─unknown before─was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction; polarization-dependent optical absorption measurements display a large anisotropy in the ac plane of the crystals. The overall Davydov splitting is ∼110 meV, which is slightly lower than that in the close relative pentacene (120 meV). Momentum-dependent electron energy-loss spectroscopy measurements show a clear exciton dispersion of the Davydov components. An analysis of the dispersion using a simple 1D model indicates smaller electron- and hole-transfer integrals in dibenzopentacene as compared to pentacene. The spectral weight distribution of the excitation spectra is strongly momentum-dependent and demonstrates a strong momentum-dependent admixture of Frenkel excitons, charge-transfer excitons, and vibrational modes.
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    Mononuclear clusterfullerene single‐molecule magnet containing strained fused‐pentagons stabilized by a nearly linear metal cyanide cluster
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2017) Liu, Fupin; Wang, Song; Gao, Cong-Li; Deng, Qingming; Zhu, Xianjun; Kostanyan, Aram; Westerstrçm, Rasmus; Jin, Fei; Xie, Su‐Yuan; Popov, Alexey A.; Greber, Thomas; Yang, Shangfeng
    Fused‐pentagons results in an increase of local steric strain according to the isolated pentagon rule (IPR), and for all reported non‐IPR clusterfullerenes multiple (two or three) metals are required to stabilize the strained fused‐pentagons, making it difficult to access the single‐atom properties. Herein, we report the syntheses and isolations of novel non‐IPR mononuclear clusterfullerenes MNC@C76 (M=Tb, Y), in which one pair of strained fused‐pentagon is stabilized by a mononuclear cluster. The molecular structures of MNC@C76 (M=Tb, Y) were determined unambiguously by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, featuring a non‐IPR C2v(19138)‐C76 cage entrapping a nearly linear MNC cluster, which is remarkably different from the triangular MNC cluster within the reported analogous clusterfullerenes based on IPR‐obeying C82 cages. The TbNC@C76 molecule is found to be a field‐induced single‐molecule magnet (SMM).
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    Substrate-Independent Magnetic Bistability in Monolayers of the Single-Molecule Magnet Dy2ScN@C80 on Metals and Insulators
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Krylov, Denis S.; Schimmel, Sebastian; Dubrovin, Vasilii; Liu, Fupin; Nguyen, T.T. Nhung; Spree, Lukas; Chen, Chia-Hsiang; Velkos, Georgios; Bulbucan, Claudiu; Westerström, Rasmus; Studniarek, Michał; Dreiser, Jan; Hess, Christian; Büchner, Bernd; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    Magnetic hysteresis is demonstrated for monolayers of the single-molecule magnet (SMM) Dy2ScN@C80 deposited on Au(111), Ag(100), and MgO|Ag(100) surfaces by vacuum sublimation. The topography and electronic structure of Dy2ScN@C80 adsorbed on Au(111) were studied by STM. X-ray magnetic CD studies show that the Dy2ScN@C80 monolayers exhibit similarly broad magnetic hysteresis independent on the substrate used, but the orientation of the Dy2ScN cluster depends strongly on the surface. DFT calculations show that the extent of the electronic interaction of the fullerene molecules with the surface is increasing dramatically from MgO to Au(111) and Ag(100). However, the charge redistribution at the fullerene-surface interface is fully absorbed by the carbon cage, leaving the state of the endohedral cluster intact. This Faraday cage effect of the fullerene preserves the magnetic bistability of fullerene-SMMs on conducting substrates and facilitates their application in molecular spintronics. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
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    Covalency versus magnetic axiality in Nd molecular magnets: Nd-photoluminescence, strong ligand-field, and unprecedented nephelauxetic effect in fullerenes NdM2N@C80 (M = Sc, Lu, Y)
    (Cambridge : RSC, 2023) Yang, Wei; Rosenkranz, Marco; Velkos, Georgios; Ziegs, Frank; Dubrovin, Vasilii; Schiemenz, Sandra; Spree, Lukas; de Souza Barbosa, Matheus Felipe; Guillemard, Charles; Valvidares, Manuel; Büchner, Bernd; Liu, Fupin; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.
    Nd-based nitride clusterfullerenes NdM2N@C80 with rare-earth metals of different sizes (M = Sc, Y, Lu) were synthesized to elucidate the influence of the cluster composition, shape and internal strain on the structural and magnetic properties. Single crystal X-ray diffraction revealed a very short Nd-N bond length in NdSc2N@C80. For Lu and Y analogs, the further shortening of the Nd-N bond and pyramidalization of the NdM2N cluster are predicted by DFT calculations as a result of the increased cluster size and a strain caused by the limited size of the fullerene cage. The short distance between Nd and nitride ions leads to a very large ligand-field splitting of Nd3+ of 1100-1200 cm−1, while the variation of the NdM2N cluster composition and concomitant internal strain results in the noticeable modulation of the splitting, which could be directly assessed from the well-resolved fine structure in the Nd-based photoluminescence spectra of NdM2N@C80 clusterfullerenes. Photoluminescence measurements also revealed an unprecedentedly strong nephelauxetic effect, pointing to a high degree of covalency. The latter appears detrimental to the magnetic axiality despite the strong ligand field. As a result, the ground magnetic state has considerable transversal components of the pseudospin g-tensor, and the slow magnetic relaxation of NdSc2N@C80 could be observed by AC magnetometry only in the presence of a magnetic field. A combination of the well-resolved magneto-optical states and slow relaxation of magnetization suggests that Nd clusterfullerenes can be useful building blocks for magneto-photonic quantum technologies.
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    Tailoring Magnetic Features in Zigzag-Edged Nanographenes by Controlled Diels–Alder Reactions
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2020) Ajayakumar, M.R.; Fu, Yubin; Liu, Fupin; Komber, Hartmut; Tkachova, Valeriya; Xu, Chi; Zhou, Shengqiang; Popov, Alexey A.; Liu, Junzhi; Feng, Xinliang
    Nanographenes (NGs) with tunable electronic and magnetic properties have attracted enormous attention in the realm of carbon-based nanoelectronics. In particular, NGs with biradical character at the ground state are promising building units for molecular spintronics. However, most of the biradicaloids are susceptible to oxidation under ambient conditions and photolytic degradation, which hamper their further applications. Herein, we demonstrated the feasibility of tuning the magnetic properties of zigzag-edged NGs in order to enhance their stability via the controlled Diels–Alder reactions of peri-tetracene (4-PA). The unstable 4-PA (y0=0.72; half-life, t1/2=3 h) was transformed into the unprecedented benzo-peri-tetracenes (BPTs) by a one-side Diels–Alder reaction, which featured a biradical character at the ground state (y0=0.60) and exhibited remarkable stability under ambient conditions for several months. In addition, the fully zigzag-edged circumanthracenes (CAs) were achieved by two-fold or stepwise Diels–Alder reactions of 4-PA, in which the magnetic properties could be controlled by employing the corresponding dienophiles. Our work reported herein opens avenues for the synthesis of novel zigzag-edged NGs with tailor-made magnetic properties. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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    Triangular Monometallic Cyanide Cluster Entrapped in Carbon Cage with Geometry-Dependent Molecular Magnetism
    (Washington, DC : ACS Publications, 2016) Liu, Fupin; Gao, Cong-Li; Deng, Qingming; Zhu, Xianjun; Kostanyan, Aram; Westerström, Rasmus; Wang, Song; Tan, Yuan-Zhi; Tao, Jun; Xie, Su-Yuan; Popov, Alexey A.; Greber, Thomas; Yang, Shangfeng
    Clusterfullerenes are capable of entrapping a variety of metal clusters within carbon cage, for which the entrapped metal cluster generally keeps its geometric structure (e.g., bond distance and angle) upon changing the isomeric structure of fullerene cage, and whether the properties of the entrapped metal cluster is geometry-dependent remains unclear. Herein we report an unusual triangular monometallic cluster entrapped in fullerene cage by isolating several novel terbium cyanide clusterfullerenes (TbNC@C82) with different cage isomeric structures. Upon varying the isomeric structure of C82 cage from C2(5) to Cs(6) and to C2v(9), the entrapped triangular TbNC cluster exhibits significant distortions as evidenced by the changes of Tb–C(N) and C–N bond distances and variation of the Tb–C(N)–N(C) angle by up to 20°, revealing that the geometric structure of the entrapped triangular TbNC cluster is variable. All three TbNC@C82 molecules are found to be single-ion magnets, and the change of the geometric structure of TbNC cluster directly leads to the alternation of the magnetic relaxation time of the corresponding TbNC@C82 clusterfullerene.