Recent advances in dysprosium-based single molecule magnets: Structural overview and synthetic strategies

The last few years have seen a huge renaissance in the study of the magnetism of lanthanide coordination complexes, especially in the field of single molecule magnets (SMMs) due to the large inherent anisotropy of lanthanide metal ions. It has led to intense activity on the part of synthetic chemists to produce systems suitable for detailed study by physicists and materials scientists, thus synthetic development has been playing a major role in the advancement of this field. In this review, we demonstrate the research developed in the few years in the fascinating and challenging field of Dy-based SMMs with particular focus on how recent studies tend to address the issue of relaxation dynamics in these systems from synthetic point of view. In addition, the assembly of multinuclear Dy SMMs using various ligands is summarized, showing that several typical motifs are favorable structural units which could be exploited in the formation of new Dy-based SMMs and supramolecular architectures.

► The synthetic strategies to design DyIII-based single molecule magnets are demonstrated. ► Detailed analysis of mono- and dinuclear systems provides significant insight for modulating the relaxation dynamics of Dy-based SMMs. ► The assembly of multinuclear Dy SMMs using various ligands is summarized. ► Favorable structural units could be exploited in the formation of new Dy-based SMMs are highlighted.