This work comprises two main parts. The first part outlines our efforts to expand on the recent work of Gütlich et.al. by synthesizing Co(II) based spin crossover systems within a dendritic framework. We wanted to investigate the possibility of synthesizing different first generation, triazole containing dendrimers using “click” type reactions and their coordination ability with Co(II) ions. To this end we have had limited success mainly due to the numerous challenges in synthesizing a pure dendrimer product. The second part details our efforts in the synthesis of a mononuclear Co(II) based single molecule magnet. This comes as an extension to recent reports by Chang and Long where they have successfully obtained mononuclear Fe(II) single molecule magnets by inducing structural distortions within the complexes to amplify the spin-orbit coupling. We postulated that the use of Co(II) in conjunction with a bulky ligand framework would lead to desirable magnetic properties. We chose the known bis(imino)pyridine ligand scaffold due to its rich chemistry and its interesting and unexpected coordination behaviour, as we have seen in previous research efforts by our lab. To this end we were successful in isolating and characterizing 4 compounds, and we have carried out detailed magnetic measurements on the two most magnetically interesting species.

This work comprises two main parts. The first part outlines our efforts to expand on the recent work of Gütlich et.al. by synthesizing Co(II) based spin crossover systems within a dendritic framework. We wanted to investigate the possibility of synthesizing different first generation, triazole containing dendrimers using “click” type reactions and their coordination ability with Co(II) ions. To this end we have had limited success mainly due to the numerous challenges in synthesizing a pure dendrimer product. The second part details our efforts in the synthesis of a mononuclear Co(II) based single molecule magnet. This comes as an extension to recent reports by Chang and Long where they have successfully obtained mononuclear Fe(II) single molecule magnets by inducing structural distortions within the complexes to amplify the spin-orbit coupling. We postulated that the use of Co(II) in conjunction with a bulky ligand framework would lead to desirable magnetic properties. We chose the known bis(imino)pyridine ligand scaffold due to its rich chemistry and its interesting and unexpected coordination behaviour, as we have seen in previous research efforts by our lab. To this end we were successful in isolating and characterizing 4 compounds, and we have carried out detailed magnetic measurements on the two most magnetically interesting species.

Femtosecond electron diffraction experiments were performed on solid state iron(II) tris(2,2'-bipyridine) bis(hexafluorophosphate). The cation is known to undergo a spin crossover process when solvated in water and irradiated with 400 nm coherent light which results in a transition from a low spin to high spin state within a picosecond which is accompanied by a uniform 0.2 Å Fe-N bond elongation. A femtosecond diffraction experiment was performed on the solid sample and was unable to find evidence of a fast spin crossover transition. Suspecting this may be due to limitations of the apparatus, an ultrafast transient absorption experiment was performed. Emulating the liquid study by Gawelda et al, the pump probe experiment found evidence of spin crossover in the solid state sample. This result awaits verification by an improved transient absorption apparatus and has inspired efforts to perform an improved femtosecond electron diffraction experiment.

Femtosecond electron diffraction experiments were performed on solid state iron(II) tris(2,2'-bipyridine) bis(hexafluorophosphate). The cation is known to undergo a spin crossover process when solvated in water and irradiated with 400 nm coherent light which results in a transition from a low spin to high spin state within a picosecond which is accompanied by a uniform 0.2 Å Fe-N bond elongation. A femtosecond diffraction experiment was performed on the solid sample and was unable to find evidence of a fast spin crossover transition. Suspecting this may be due to limitations of the apparatus, an ultrafast transient absorption experiment was performed. Emulating the liquid study by Gawelda et al, the pump probe experiment found evidence of spin crossover in the solid state sample. This result awaits verification by an improved transient absorption apparatus and has inspired efforts to perform an improved femtosecond electron diffraction experiment.

The main topic of this thesis is the study of the ultrafast photo-switching of photo-magnetic molecular materials showing transition between spin states. These molecular crystals are prototypes of molecular bistability between two distinct electronic states, HS and LS. The molecules can be switched between these two states by a light pulse. The emergence of ultrafast techniques allows us to study in real time these photo-switching processes and also the associated out-of-equilibrium dynamics down to the femtosecond scale (10-15s). We have combined probes sensitive to the change of electronic state, on the hand, and to structural rearrangements, on the other hand, in order to observe these photo-switching processes. The measurements of ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy have been made using the laser plateform at the IPR. Complementary time resolved X-ray diffraction and absorption experiments have been performed on large facilities. The first part of this manuscript is focused on the photo-switching dynamics at molecular scale. It reveals a complicated interaction between electronic and structural degrees of freedom. The generation and damping of coherent optical phonons is identified as a key parameter in the trapping in HS potential. Several experiments on different compounds show the linear and local character of such ultrafast photo-switching. The second part of this thesis presents studies on the complete out of equilibrium dynamics. It reveals a cascading process with activation of elastic and thermal effects at different time scales. Cooperative processes following a light excitation are observed. These complexes dynamics are driven by propagating and diffusive process sensitive to the size of the sample. The study of nanocrystals yields high conversion and faster response to elastics effect than single-crystals. These studies further elucidate the out of equilibrium processes underlying the photo-induced phase transitions on time and length scales, from the molecule to material scale.

This work comprises two main parts. The first part outlines our efforts to expand on the recent work of Gütlich et.al. by synthesizing Co(II) based spin crossover systems within a dendritic framework. We wanted to investigate the possibility of synthesizing different first generation, triazole containing dendrimers using “click” type reactions and their coordination ability with Co(II) ions. To this end we have had limited success mainly due to the numerous challenges in synthesizing a pure dendrimer product. The second part details our efforts in the synthesis of a mononuclear Co(II) based single molecule magnet. This comes as an extension to recent reports by Chang and Long where they have successfully obtained mononuclear Fe(II) single molecule magnets by inducing structural distortions within the complexes to amplify the spin-orbit coupling. We postulated that the use of Co(II) in conjunction with a bulky ligand framework would lead to desirable magnetic properties. We chose the known bis(imino)pyridine ligand scaffold due to its rich chemistry and its interesting and unexpected coordination behaviour, as we have seen in previous research efforts by our lab. To this end we were successful in isolating and characterizing 4 compounds, and we have carried out detailed magnetic measurements on the two most magnetically interesting species.

L’étude des matériaux à transition de spin constitue un important challenge du fait de leurspotentialités dans le traitement de l’information, notamment par voie optique. En effet, inscrire uneinformation par la lumière permet d’accéder à des vitesses de traitement extrêmement rapides. Leszones de stabilité de cette information photo-inscrite varient beaucoup avec la température. Cetravail de thèse a consisté à faire converger ces zones vers un même point via la rencontre entre lestransitions de spin thermique et photo-induite. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé deux approcheschimiques : la réalisation de solutions solides sur des systèmes très coopératifs et l’obtention denanoparticules photomagnétiques. Ce manuscrit détaille les résultats obtenus durant ce travail. / The study of spin crossover materials is an important challenge regarding their potentiality ininformation process, especially by optical way. Indeed, writing information with light can allow tospeedup the treatment. The stability areas of this photo-induced information is sensitive to thetemperature. The aim of this work consisted of realise the convergence of this areas toward thesame point through the meeting of the thermal and photo-induced spin transitions. For this purpose,we used two chemical approaches: achievement of metal dilution on very cooperative systems andsynthesis of photo-magnetic nanoparticles. This manuscript describes the results obtained during thiswork.

Les polymères de Fe(II) à transition de spin à base de ligand triazole [Fe(Rtrz)3]X2 possèdent des propriétés de commutation proches de la température ambiante. Cette bistabilité détectable à la fois par voie optique et magnétique leur confère un intérêt applicatif. Il est maintenant acquis que leurs propriétés sont très dépendantes de leur composition : la nature du substituant du ligand 1,2,4-triazole et/ou de l’anion et/ou du taux d’hydratation. Ce travail a permis d’aborder diverses problématiques. L’influence du phénomène de déshydratation/réhydratation sur les propriétés de transition de spin est d’abord étudiée pour quelques complexes. Ensuite, la synthèse de nouveaux matériaux est envisagée grâce à la méthode des alliages moléculaires. Puis, l’influence des paramètres de synthèse sur les propriétés est examinée pour quatre composés choisis. Enfin, l’effet du traitement en milieu supercritique sur les caractéristiques de ces composés moléculaires est étudié. / Spin crossover polymers based on Fe(II) and 1,2,4-triazole ligands [Fe(Rtrz)3]X2 have switching capabilities near room temperature. Optical and magnetic bistabilities observed for these systems confer potential applications. It is well established that their properties are highly dependent on their composition : the nature of the 1,2,4-triazole substituent, the anion and the rate of hydration. Our work has addressed several different topics. The influence of the dehydration/rehydration phenomenon on the spin transition is first studied for some complexes. Next, molecular alloy method is considered to obtain new materials. Then, the influence of synthesis parameters on the properties is examined for four selected compounds. Finally, the effect of treatment in a supercritical medium on the molecular characteristics of these compounds is studied.

Les matériaux à transition de spin (TS) à base de Fe(II) et de ligands triazolepeuvent changer d’état de spin sous l’effet d’une perturbation extérieure telle que latempérature, la pression ou l’irradiation lumineuse. Si ces aspects sont bien connus, ce n’estque depuis quelques années que le design des particules à TS connait un véritable essor avecpour objectif principal de créer de larges gammes de tailles et de formes de nanoparticules.C’est dans ce contexte que nous avons rationnalisé, grâce à un examen scrupuleux de tousles paramètres expérimentaux, la synthèse par micelles inverses afin d’élaborer des particulesà TS de tailles et de morphologies contrôlées. Par exemple, dans des conditionsexpérimentales bien définies, nous pouvons désormais offrir un panel de tailles de particulesen forme de bâtonnet allant de 30 à 1000 nm pour le composé [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4). Enparallèle nous avons conduit la toute première exploration, pour les matériaux à TS, de lasynthèse par spray-drying. Des particules sphériques de tailles micrométriques présentant despropriétés différentes de celles observées habituellement ont alors été obtenues. L’un deschallenges actuels du design des particules à TS concerne le greffage de particules d’or. Al’encontre des résultats actuels de la littérature, nous proposons ici une méthode de greffagedirect de nanoparticules d’or sur celles à TS conduisant à des particules hybrides de typeTS@Au. Ce greffage apparaît plus efficace que ce qui était connu jusqu’à présent et, desurcroît, se révèle pertinent pour une large gamme de taille des particules d’or. / The spin-crossover (SCO) materials based on iron (II) and triazole ligands canchange their spin state under an external perturbation like temperature, pressure or lightirradiation. If these aspects are well known, it is only in the recent years that the SCO-particledesign has attracted attention of the scientific community with increasing interests notablyfocusing on the access to wide ranges of sizes and shapes of nanoparticles. In this context,we rationalized the reverse micellar synthesis, thanks to a scrupulous study of all experimentalparameters, to produce SCO particles with controlled size and shape. For example, underwell-defined experimental conditions, we can now offer rod-shaped particles with sizes rangingfrom 30 to 1000 nm for [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4). In parallel, we drove the first exploration byspray-drying for SCO materials. Spherical-micrometric particles with different properties, fromthose observed usually, were obtained. Within the design of SCO particles, one of the currentchallenges concerns the grafting of gold particles. In contrast to existing literature results, wepropose a method to graft directly gold nanoparticles on SCO particles leading to hybridparticles denoted SCO@Au. This grafting seems to be more effective than previous resultsand shows itself relevant for a wide range of size of gold particles.

Le développement récent de l’électronique exige la mise au point de composants de plus en plus efficaces, de plus en plus rapides et de plus en plus réduits en taille. Dès les années 1970, il a été montré que l'on pourrait utiliser la molécule comme composante électronique élémentaire. Dans ce domaine, le chimiste sait aujourd’hui créer des molécules douées de propriétés remarquables, comme par exemple les molécules-aimants et les chaines-aimants qui montrent une bistabilité magnétique à basse température (T < 10 K) liée à la relaxation lente de leur aimantation, leur conférant ainsi la capacité de conserver l’information. Dans ce contexte, l’idée d’organiser des molécules-aimants par des connecteurs moléculaires photocommutables permet à la fois d’ajouter une propriété magnétique supplémentaire au matériau, mais également de photo-contrôler la bistabilité magnétique de ces objets. Dans ces travaux de thèse, nous nous sommes intéressés à l’association de molécules-aimants avec deux types de liens : les complexes à transfert de charge Na2[Fe(CN)5NO] et à conversion de spin [Fe(LN5)(CN)2] et [Fe(LN3O2)(CN)2] (LN5 et LN3O2 étant des ligands pentadentes) dans le but de photo-contrôler les propriétés magnétiques. Les résultats obtenus dans la partie dédiée à l’organisation des complexes [MnIII(BS)]+ via le précurseur photo-actif nitroprussiate se sont révélés décevants du point de vue photomagnétisme. Toutefois, un des nouveaux composés 2D présente un comportement magnétique de type molécule-aimant. La stratégie de connecter les précurseurs de [MnIII(BS)]+par des complexes photomagnétiques [Fe(LN3O2)(CN)2] et [Fe(LN5)(CN)2] pour synthétiser de nouveaux systèmes photosensibles a porté ces fruits puisque neuf nouveaux systèmes ont été synthétisés. Permi les résultats les plus significatifs, nous avons obtenu un système unidimensionnel dans lequel les unité dimères [MnIII2(BS)2]2+ sont connectées par l’entité photomagnétique et qui présente un comportement de molécule-aimant. On retiendra aussi un autre système unidimentionnel qui présente un ordre antiferromagnétique et de la relaxation lente de l’aimantation. D’autre part, les études photomagnétiques ont clairement montré des comportements photoinduits pour les cinq composés qui contiennent les centres FeII à l’état bas spin. Pour conclure, le développement de notre stratégie est prometteur pour la création de nouveaux matériaux photomagnétiques dans les années à venir. / The exponential growth of technological demands for information storage capacity is at the origin of the nanosciences and the development of the molecular electronics. Since more than 40 years, the main objective in this field of research is mainly to store as fast as possible more information in a smaller volume. Nowadays, chemists know how to create molecules with remarkable properties, such as Single–Molecule Magnets (SMMs) and Single–Chain Magnets (SCMs), which show magnetic bistability at low temperature (T < 10 K) providing a memory effect. Therefore, the design of novel materials with original physical properties, based on molecular magnetic objects, became the focus of many researches around the world. Following this approach, the design of SMM linked by active bridges that can switch between two magnetic states under external stimuli (temperature, pressure, light...), should favor additional properties and allow an external control (by irradiation) of the magnetic properties of the final SMM-based materials. The goal of this thesis is to organize SMMs by assembling them with two types of linkers: electron-transfer building blocks (Na2[Fe(CN)5NO]) and spin-crossover complexes ([Fe(LN5)(CN)2] and [Fe(LN3O2)(CN)2]). Three new materials obtained from the organization of [MnIII(BS)]+ complexes with the [Fe(CN)5NO]2- building-block, showed no significant photoactivity unlike the Na2[Fe(CN)5NO] precursor. Nevertheless, one of these organized systems exhibits Single-Molecule Magnet behaviour. The employed strategy to link [MnIII(BS)]+ units with photomagnetic [Fe(LN5)(CN)2] and [Fe(LN3O2)(CN)2] spin-crossover complexes, leads to nine new interesting compounds. The most significant novelty from a structural point of view is the various topologies of compounds obtained from molecular complexes to one-dimensional architectures with different arrangements. All compounds exhibit interesting magnetic properties. For example, one of the unidimensional networks shows an antiferromagnetic order followed by a slow relaxation of the magnetization that has been observed for the first time in a canted system. On the other hand, magnetic investigations under light irradiation have revealed remarkable photoinduced properties in the case of five systems based on FeII units in their low spin state. In conclusion, the synthetic strategy used in this thesis has been experimentally validated and opens new perspectives for future photomagnetic SMM and SCM systems.