Lichtgedanken 03

Rubrik 56 In the glass vessel that chemist Oluseun Akintola holds up to the light, one can see just a few small crystals. There is a violet shimmer to the fragments of po- lymer, which otherwise do not look at all spectacular. What is special about them, explains Akintola—a doctoral candidate from Nigeria working at the department of Inorganic Chemistry II—is in the detail. »The crystals have a To attract—or not attract Jena chemists have developed a magnetic polymer, the »attractive« properties of which can be potentially switched on or off. The secret behind the material bearing the name »Jena University Magnetic Polymer« (JUMP) lies in its structure: the regularly structured three- dimensional framework is peppered with nano-pores in which various chemical molecules can be embedded, thus controlling the properties of the polymer. C H E M I S T R Y BY UTE SCHÖNFELDER huge inner surface,« he says. One gram of the material, which fits in a teaspoon, has a pore surface of at least 150 square metres. The »Jena University Magnetic Polymer« – JUMP for short – has been developed and characterised by Olu- seun Akintola, who is supported by the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst, as part of his doctoral research under Prof. Winfried Plass, together with collea- gues in the department. The researchers have reported the material JUMP-1 in the specialist journal »CrystEngComm« of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and Prof. Plass’s team also designed the cover. Three-dimensional framework with numerous cavities In addition to its appreciable interior size, the second special feature of this porous polymer is its magnetic proper- ties. »What’s more, these properties are potentially switchable, which means that we are currently working on che- mical modifications of the polymer that can turn the magnetic property of the material on or off,« explains Prof. Plass. The material consists of layers of a two- dimensional network made of magne- tic cobalt clusters and organic linkers, which are then connected by regular- ly arranged bridging molecules. Plass Photo left: In a laboratory at the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, doctoral candidate Oluseun Akintola from Nigeria shows a small glass tube containing a tiny sample of a porous polymer. The in- novative material, which demonstrates a combination of fascinating properties, opens up new possibilities in the area of switchable magnetic materials. Photo right: Oluseun Akintola prepares a sample of the magnetic JUMP polymer for examination on a sorption-analyser. He is a doctoral candidate under Prof. Winfried Plass (in the background) at the Insti- tute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry.