Unprecedented multi-stable spin crossover molecular material with two thermal memory channels

Two in one: A new iron(II) complex with short alkyl substituents exhibits an unprecedented bimodal behavior governed by the coexistence of three phases: two structurally different low-spin phases and one high-spin phase. The compound features two distinct well-separated strong cooperative spin-crossover transitions by varying the scan rate (see graphic).This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) (presently Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO)) and FEDER funds (CTQ2010-18414, MAT2007-61621, MAT2011-24284, Consolider Ingenio CSD 2007-00010), the Generalitat Valenciana through PROMETEO/2012/049 and ACOMP2012/233. M.S. thanks the EU for a Marie Curie fellowship (IIF-253254). T.R.M. thanks the MICINN for a predoctoral (FPI) grant. We thank Dr. C. Enachescu for help in performing preliminary FORC analysis of the hysteresis loops.Seredyuk, M.; Muñoz Roca, MDC.; Castro, M.; Romero-Morcillo, T.; Gaspar, AB.; Real, JA. (2013). Unprecedented multi-stable spin crossover molecular material with two thermal memory channels. Chemistry - A European Journal. 19(21):6591-6596. doi:10.1002/chem.201300394S65916596192