Magnetic polymers

Abstract

Synthesis of organic molecule-based polymers having intrinsic and superior magnetic properties is one of the frontier areas of polymer research. Polymer materials having magnetic properties may be classified as (i) polymer composites with magnetic fillers; (ii) transition metal-containing polymers; (iii) polyradicals, and (iv) polycarbenes, polynitrenes, polyradical ions etc. Polymeric materials of the first and second categories are extrinsically magnetic due to the presence of metallic magnetic elements. The last two types are intrinsically magnetic in nature due to its high spin multiplicity in the ground state. An attempt has been made to review magnetic polymers based on polyradicals and polycarbenes along with some discussion on other molecular based magnetic materials such as inorganic charge transfer complexes, nitrenes and organic radical ions. The theoretical background of organic ferromagnetism and the spin-coupling mechanism have also been briefly discussed.