A research team from Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) has achieved outstanding progress in a study on single-molecule magnet systems with high energy barriers. The research was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, one of the leading chemistry journals in the world.

The research results were published in a paper entitled Ligand Fluorination to Mitigate the Raman Relaxation of DyIII Single-Molecule Magnets: A Combined Terahertz, Far-IR and Vibronic Barrier Model Study. (Link to the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202206022)

In previous research, a vibration barrier model was created to explain why Raman index (n) of the Raman process is unusually small during the magnetic moment inversion process of single-molecule magnets. And, it was figured out that this process comes from the contribution of vibrational modes below the magnetic spin-flip barrier.

However, for single-molecule magnet systems with high energy barriers, the model fitting process is more complicated. There is a risk of over-parameterized fitting, and the associated phonons may be overwhelmed.

The predicament urged members of Professor Zheng Yanzhen team from the Frontier Institute of Science and Technology to synthesize a series of new pentagonal bipyramid configuration dysprosium-based single-molecule. Thus, the differences in the relaxation rates of the Raman processes of these three complexes can be reasonably explained. 

Since far-infrared spectroscopy is not scarce, the establishment of this method is expected to be used to screen favorable ligands for slowing the Raman process and improve the effectiveness of the design of high-performance single-molecule magnets.