Acta Chimica Slovaca (ACS) publishes papers on fundamental and applied aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical technology, chemical engineering and process control, biotechnology and food technology. Welcome are also topics which include chemical aspects of materials, physical chemistry and chemical physics, analytical chemistry, macromolecular chemistry and biomedical engineering.

Thermal- and light-induced SCO effect in Fe(II) complexes and coordination polymers

Alexandra Šagátová *, Barbora Brachňaková, Ivan Šalitroš a

Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. Bratislava SK-81237, Slovakia
a Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. Bratislava SK-81237, Slovakia. Central European Institute of Technology, Brno University of Technology, Purkyňova 123, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic.

E-mail: * alexandra.sagatova@stuba.sk

Abstract: The review presents several families of spin crossover (SCO) active Fe(II) coordination compounds with photoactive N-donor heterocyclic ligands, in which the photoinduced structural changes can activate reversible change of spin state and thus control magnetic properties under isothermal conditions. Detailed description of structural, spectral, and magnetic behavior for selected examples of photoisomerizable coordination compounds are provided. From the application point of view, light is an excellent tool to control SCO properties. The first and best known approach called Light Induced Excited Spin State Trapping (LIESST) has a significant technological limitation due to low temperatures (< 120 K) required for the trapping and existence of photoexcited metastable states. The second and more elegant approach known as Ligand-Driven Light-Induced Spin Crossover (LD-LISC) seems to be a very suitable strategy utilizing light-induced structural changes to control the spin. Isomerization of photoswitchable groups, such as azobenzenes or stilbenes, can cause reversible transformation between two isomeric forms after exposition to selective wavelengths at ambient temperature. A very recent third approach, the Guest-Driven Light-Induced Spin Crossover (GD-LISC) effect employing the photoisomerizable guest molecules to control the spin state has also been introduced.

Keywords: spin crossover, isomerization, light-excited spin-state trapping effect, ligand-driven light-induced spin crossover, molecular switches, guest-driven light-induced spin crossover.

Acta Chimica Slovaca, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2023, pp. 22—40, DOI: 10.2478/acs-2023-0003