Featured Faculty - Danny B. Leznoff

​Danny B. Leznoff (Simon Fraser University)
Professor, Inorganic Chemistry.
Leznoff Group Website

Research Area: Organometallic and Inorganic Chemistry
Topics: supramolecular coordination polymers, magnetic materials, open-shell organometallics, actinide chemistry, metal-metal bonds

Compounds which contain unpaired electrons can be found throughout chemistry, from the active sites in many proteins to magnetic materials. The variety of spin carriers is impressive: such systems can involve transition metals, lanthanides and organic radicals. We are interested in all aspects of paramagnetic molecules, in particular focusing on the areas of advanced molecular magnetic materials and paramagnetic organometallic complexes.
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Molecular Magnetic Materials are a new type of magnetic material composed of molecules rather than metal atoms. This fundamental difference allows us to create types of advanced materials that have 'radically' different properties compared to classical magnets. For example, molecular magnetic materials can be dissolved. They can be highly coloured or transparent. Imagine a luminescent magnet, a chiral magnet or magnetic polymers! These long-term goals have applications in the electronics and computer industries as information storage and display components, as sensors and as molecular switches.

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