Designed synthesis of multifunctional cyanide-bridged molecular assemblies

The goal of this thesis is to develop a synthetic strategy which enables the design of molecular materials displaying interplay between physical properties. This involves a building-block approach aiming at constructing extended networks via two steps. In the first step, the lanthanide ions are reacted with pyrazine-carboxylate linkers to form in situ prepared lanthanide building-blocks. This step enables to control the number of free coordination sites around the lanthanide ions. Then, these building-blocks are combined with the [M(CN)₈]^4- (M⁴⁺ =Mo, W) ions. In the second step, some of the cyanide groups will coordinate to the available coordination sites of the Ln³⁺ ions, forming 3D extended networks. The appropriate choice of the pyrazine-carboxylate linkers enables to obtain porous or dense networks. Another advantage of this synthetic approach is that the structural integrity of the building-blocks units is maintained through the reaction. Therefore, it is possible to control the type of physical properties (magnetic, optical and electrical) and to tune them by external stimuli (light, magnetic or electric field). Consequently, the molecular materials obtained have potential applications as conducting materials, electro-optical sensors, and/or magnets.