Playing with organic radicals as building blocks for functional molecular materials.

The literature has shown numerous contributions on the synthesis and physicochemical properties of persistent organic radicals but there are a lesser number of reports about their use as building blocks for obtaining molecular magnetic materials exhibiting an additional and useful physical property or function. These materials show promise for applications in spintronics as well as bistable memory devices and sensing materials. This critical review provides an up-to-date survey to this new generation of multifunctional magnetic materials. For this, a detailed revision of the most common families of persistent organic radicals-nitroxide, triphenylmethyl, verdazyl, phenalenyl, and dithiadiazolyl-so far reported will be presented, classified into three different sections: materials with magnetic, conducting and optical properties. An additional section reporting switchable materials based on these radicals is presented (257 references). This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012