Abinash Swain

Multifunctional Guest-Hosting Triple-Stranded Helicates: From Anion Recognition to Quantum Information Applications ConspectusThe growing field of coordination supramolecular chemistry constitutes a fruitful avenue for accessing a variety of multifunctional materials with a range of applications. Their versatility is enhanced if they have the ability to encapsulate guest molecules, opening opportunities for host/guest synergies. One of the most paradigmatic categories of such assemblies is coordination supramolecular helicates, which exhibit a central cavity for the potential allocation of small species, provided that their symmetry and volumes are compatible. The presence of noncovalent interactions (NCIs) between host and guest strongly contributes to the thermodynamic stability of these edifices, sometimes giving rise to a template effect. All those features are exploited for the case of triple-stranded helicates, which are predictably obtained from reactions of metal ions that adopt an octahedral coordination geometry with ligands made of two chelating moieties sufficiently separated by a spacer. The properties of the cavity of the helicate can be tuned by adjusting the central spacer of the ligand, which in turn, may incorporate functionalities facilitating NCIs with potential guests, such as hydrogen bonds. In this manner, a collection of pyrazolylpyridine (or -quinoline) ligands (L) has given rise to a large family of (G@[M2L3])n+ species (where G represents various guests), in which the encapsulated entities are firmly held in place by [N–H···G] hydrogen bonds. These assemblies can thus be employed for the selective recognition of anions or small coordination complexes, capitalizing on the specific architecture of the ligand strands. Furthermore, they have opened a plethora of possibilities for the investigation of synergic multifunctionality. The host can be made to exhibit molecular switching behavior (for example, spin-crossover, SCO, if M = FeII) or single-ion magnet (SIM) behavior (if M = CoII) while the guest has been exploited to tune these properties or to incorporate new ones. More recently, anionic coordination complexes such as these from the series [M(ox)3]3– (“ox” being the oxalate anion and M = Fe, Cr, Al, Ru) have been efficiently trapped inside the metallo-helices. This has unveiled unprecedented phenomena resulting from encapsulation, such as the first manifestation of SIM behavior for CrIII or the enhancement of the quantum coherence of a molecular qubit when acting as the guest. This family has been expanded with the inclusion of the anilate analogues of oxalates, opening unlimited options for multiproperty explorations (such as photophysical, redox chemistry, radical generation, etc.). More recently, within this group of systems, the guest has been employed as a template to selectively assemble specific combinations of two different ligands in the form of G@[M2LxL′(3–x)]m+ heteroleptic helicates, thus leading to a further opportunity of function tunability and enhancement. In this Account, we survey this and other related types of host/guest assemblies and place them in the general context of triple-stranded supramolecular helicates while assessing their impact in fields like molecular magnetism, quantum technologies, or anion recognition.

Our recent accounts on Triple-stranded supramolecular helicates enable host–guest synergy, tunable spin-crossover, single-ion magnetism, anion recognition, and quantum coherence advances. Cheers to All 😇😊 @labmoldesign-ub.bsky.social @hymat-inma.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

infusing some chemistry into brother's wedding

Chiral Dysprosium-[7]Helicene Macrocycles Showing Record Single-Molecule Magnet Properties in the Lanthanide–Helicene Family Chiral helicene-based metal complexes have emerged as an extremely promising class of multifunctional molecules for a wide range of applications. Despite significant progress in the synthesis of helic...

A beautiful slow-relaxing chiral Dy SMM by Zhu, Tang and collaborators, with simulations by L. Mariano. Congrats!

@erc.europa.eu

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

[FSE Bicentenary PhD] Controlling magnetic relaxation times in rare earth single-molecule magnets and qubits at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - [FSE Bicentenary PhD] Controlling magnetic relaxation times in rare earth single-molecule magnets and qubits at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com

We are hiring PhD students in very different research areas! Please see two adverts below, and note that the second position is restricted to UK students only. Please re-post; interested candidates please contact me by email:
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👋New preprint: "Interplay of Redox Non-Innocence and Symmetry Breaking in a 4d Coordination Framework"

🧪We’ve made Mo(pyz)₂I₂, the 4d cousin of the Cr(pyz)₂X₂ family — with redox-active ligands, symmetry breaking, semiconducting transport, and very strong magnetic interactions.

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Er(III) encodes the qubit ❄️ Gd(III) enables self-cooling down to 0.4 K

New paper out! We tackle the low-temperature challenge of molecular spin qubits by merging quantum processing and magnetic refrigeration in one molecule — a [GdEr] heterolanthanide complex. Great collaborations around Europe making great science! advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

More good results from our collaboration with @labmoldesign-ub.bsky.social
Now out in @angewandtechemie.bsky.social
@inmadivulga.bsky.social

Enhanced coherence for an encapsulated Cr(III) qubit
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