We show a marked tendency of Fe(II) to form heteroleptic [Fe(L)(L')](ClO4)2 complexes from pairs of chelating tris-imine 3bpp, tpy, or 2bbp ligands. New synthetic avenues for spin crossover research become thus available, here illustrated with three new heteroleptic compounds with differing magnetic behaviors: [Fe(H4L1)(Cl-tpy)](ClO4)2·C3H6O (1), [Fe(H2L3)(Me3bpp)](ClO4)2·C3H6O (2), [Fe(H4L1)(2bbp)](ClO4)2·3C3H6O (3). Structural studies demonstrate that 1 is in the low-spin (LS) state up to 350 K, while complexes 2 and 3 are, by contrast, in the high-spin (HS) state down to 2 K, as corroborated through magnetic susceptibility measurements. Upon exposure to the atmosphere, the latter exhibits the release of three molecules of acetone per complex, turning into the solvent-free analogue [Fe(H4L1)(2bbp)](ClO4)2 (3a), through a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation. This guest extrusion process is accompanied by a spin switch, from HS to LS.

An asymmetric bis-phenol-β-diketone (H₄L) has been designed as a ligand programmed to promote the assembly of a molecular arrangement composed of three magnetically exchanged [NiCu] pairs, each exhibiting an S = 1/2 spin. The latter are shown by EPR and magnetometry to be good qubit realizations and non-equivalent within the molecule in the solid state, as required for conditional quantum gates.

Achieving magnetic remanence at single isolated metal sites dispersed at the surface of a solid matrix has been envisioned as a key step toward information storage and processing in the smallest unit of matter. Here, we show that isolated Dy(III) sites distributed at the surface of silica nanoparticles, prepared with a simple and scalable two-step process, show magnetic remanence and display a hysteresis loop open at liquid ⁴He temperature, in contrast to the molecular precursor which does not display any magnetic memory. This singular behavior is achieved through the controlled grafting of a tailored Dy(III) siloxide complex on partially dehydroxylated silica nanoparticles followed by thermal annealing. This approach allows control of the density and the structure of isolated, "bare" Dy(III) sites bound to the silica surface. During the process, all organic fragments are removed, leaving the surface as the sole ligand, promoting magnetic remanence.

Sandwich complexes of lanthanides have recently attracted a considerable amount of interest due to their applications as Single Molecule Magnet (SMM). Herein, a comprehensive series of heteroleptic lanthanide sandwich complexes ligated by the cyclononatetraenyl (Cnt) and the cyclooctatetraenyl (Cot) ligand [Ln(Cot)(Cnt)] (Ln=Tb, Dy, Er, Ho, Yb, and Lu) is reported. The coordination behavior of the Cnt ligand has been investigated along the series and shows different coordination patterns in the solid-state depending on the size of the corresponding lanthanide ion without altering its overall anisotropy. Besides the characterization in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and in solution by 1 H NMR, static magnetic studies and ab initio computational studies were performed.

The synthesis of boron difluoride complexes of a series of curcuminoid derivatives containing various donor end groups is described. Time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations confirm the charge-transfer character of the second lowest-energy transition band and ascribe the lowest energy band to a "cyanine-like" transition. Photophysical studies reveal that tuning the donor strength of the end groups allows covering a broad spectral range, from the visible to the NIR region, of the UV-visible absorption and fluorescence spectra. Two-photon-excited fluorescence and Z-scan techniques prove that an increase in the donor strength or in the rigidity of the backbone results in a considerable increase in the two-photon cross section, reaching 5000 GM, with predominant two-photon absorption from the S0-S2 charge-transfer transition. Direct comparisons with the hemicurcuminoid derivatives show that the two-photon active band for the curcuminoid derivatives has the same intramolecular charge-transfer character and therefore arises from a dipolar structure. Overall, this structure-relationship study allows the optimization of the two-photon brightness (i.e., 400-900 GM) with one dye that emits in the NIR region of the spectrum. In addition, these dyes demonstrate high intracellular uptake efficiency in Cos7 cells with emission in the visible region, which is further improved by using porous silica nanoparticles as dye vehicles for the imaging of two mammalian carcinoma cells type based on NIR fluorescence emission.