NANOMAGIQC

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC-ICMAB)

The Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB) is a research center integrated into the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).

The Institute was set up in 1987, although it was in April 1991 when new facilities and laboratories were opened in the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Since then, the Institute has continuously grown in scientific production, facilities and staff.

The aim of the Institute is the obtaining and characterization of new materialswith relevant scientific and industrial interest.

Its activities range from the synthesis, preparation and crystallization to thecharacterization of functional high-performance materials, which in some cases led to the construction of functional devices.

A great proportion of its investigations are addressed towards molecule-based materials with different functions.

Organic Materials Group

The Organic Materials Group aspires to

• develop new molecular materials with interesting and useful magnetic properties, and
• discover new procedures and strategies to obtain and manipulate them, in particular at the nanoscopic level using the “bottom-up approach”.

The approaches to these objectives draw on the experience of the group members, which cover a wide spectrum of disciplines:

• free radicals,
• molecular metals,
• stereochemistry,
• synthetic, supramolecular and coordination chemistries, and
• nanoscience.

Also the members of this group have experience on different techniques:

• chromatography (HPLC, GPC),
• computational chemistry,
• electro- and photo-chemistry,
• electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and
• mass spectrometry.

The research group has been actively involved in Molecular Magnetism during the last ten years playing an important role in the development of molecular clusters and thin films with interesting magnetic and/or electrical properties, being one of the most well-known groups in Europe in this field and the only one that also works withpure organic magnetic materials.

The above described experience is supported by

• more than 200 papers in international journals,
• the participation and leading role played by the group in different European networks (HCM, TMR programmes and COST actions), and
• the development of projects related with Molecular Magnetism (ESF network on Molecular Magnetism and NEDO, MITI, Japan on Molecular Magnetism).

Therefore, the group is well qualified to develop one of the objectives of this project, which is

• the design and preparation of molecular clusters,
• with single-molecule magnet behavior,
• with an optimum topology, size, solubility and monodispersivity,
• to be deposited and/or integrated into thin films.

Moreover, the fact that this is the unique group of Europe with organic magnetic molecular materials expertise enhances its capability to modify the peripheral ligation of molecular clusters which is mostly made of organic ligands.

Prof. Jaume Veciana

Prof. Jaume Veciana holds a BSc in Chemistry (Universitat de Barcelona, 1973) and a PhD in Chemistry (Universitat de Barcelona, 1977).

From 1990 to nowadays he has been associated to the ICMAB (CSIC), in the category of Professor since 1995 and since 1997 he is the head of the Organic Materials Group.

His research interest is mostly focused on molecular magnetic materials, eithermolecular clusters or supramolecular materials, although he is also involved in

• rigid polymers,
• chirality,
• stereochemistry,
• supramolecular materials, and
• supercritical fluids for the production of monodispersed nanoscopic particles.

He has published more than 165 papers in international journals, 15 chapters of book and has obtained 2 patents.

He has experience managing national (20) and international projects (9), all of them devoted to Molecular Magnetism.

He has also delivered more than 100 lectures and invited conferences in international meetings and universities.

Dr. Daniel Ruiz

Dr. Daniel Ruiz holds a BSc in Chemistry (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 1991), a Master Degree in Materials Science (1993) and a PhD in Chemistry (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 1996).

From 1996 to 1999 he had a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Campus of San Diego, in one of the worldwide leading groups of synthesis and characterization of Single-Molecule Magnets based on molecular clusters.

Since January 1999 he works at the ICMAB, being active in the obtaining of new molecular materials with interesting magnetization effects originated fromsingle-molecule magnets.

He has co-authored three chapters of book and more than 35 papers in international journals, most of them related with the topics of Molecular Magnetism and Single-Molecule Magnets.

He has also contributed to more than 30 international meetings and conferencesand has actively participated in 5 national and 6 international research projects.