Magnetic hysteresis up to 80 kelvin in a dysprosium metallocene single-molecule magnet

Single-molecule magnets (SMMs) containing only one metal center may represent the lower size limit for molecule-based magnetic information storage materials. Their current drawback is that all SMMs require liquid-helium cooling to show magnetic memory effects. We now report a chemical strategy to access the dysprosium metallocene cation [(Cp ^{i Pr5})Dy(Cp*)]⁺ (Cp ^{i Pr5}, penta-iso-propylcyclopentadienyl; Cp*, pentamethylcyclopentadienyl), which displays magnetic hysteresis above liquid-nitrogen temperatures. An effective energy barrier to reversal of the magnetization of U _eff = 1541 wave number is also measured. The magnetic blocking temperature of T _B = 80 kelvin for this cation overcomes an essential barrier toward the development of nanomagnet devices that function at practical temperatures.