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Tuning the properties of responsive materials by applying an external stimulus could lead to their application as chemical switches or molecular sensors. Coronadoet al. develop a non-porous one-dimensional coordination polymer, the magnetic properties of which undergo drastic changes on chemisorption of gaseous HCl.

Although transition metal-based complexes featuring metal atoms in formally negative oxidation states are known, their stabilization without an organic ligand remains challenging. Now, lanthanide–nickel intermetallic complexes featuring an organic-ligand-free Ni²⁻ ion bound to electropositive lanthanides have been stabilized in fullerenes.

A galvanic strategy enables the intercalation of diverse molecular cations into bulk and few-layer van der Waals crystals under mild conditions, yielding 50 organic–inorganic superlattices. This method enables the definition of vertical and lateral intercalation heterostructures, opening avenues for the device integration of hybrid quantum materials.

As a material's thickness decreases towards the atomic-scale, dimensional confinement may promote behaviour not found in the bulk, with potential technological applications. Here, the authors study superconductivity in TaS₂as it is mechanically exfoliated towards the two-dimensional limit.

Bound states in superconducting vortices are expected to exhibit an electron-hole asymmetry, but it is usually tiny and can be easily washed out. Here, the authors show that the vortex bound states coupling to magnetic impurities provides an axial electron-hole asymmetry on a much longer scale, and that the direction of the asymmetry depends on the band character of the superconducting material.

Electronics and magnetic phase transitions typically do not involve mechanical degrees of freedom directly, but their impact on thermodynamic properties affects the mechanical response of a material. Here the authors show that resonators made from 2D materials exhibit anomalies at phase transitions.

The co-existence of superconductivity and magnetism in single compounds is rare, and heterostructures containing both properties have only been made with complex techniques. Now, a molecular-building-block approach has been applied to match organic and inorganic layers to produce multifunctional materials.

Long-sought evidence has been found of magnetism at the edges of graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon. The findings might enable the development of the logic gates needed for quantum computers.

The authors present magnetotransport measurements to demonstrate multistep magnetization switching in orthogonally twisted CrSBr ferromagnetic monolayers.

Graphene was one of the first materials proposed to host the quantum spin Hall effect. However, its weak intrinsic spin-orbit interaction means that observing such an effect requires modifying the graphene band structure. Here, Ghiasi et al. combine graphene with CrPS₄ and detect quantum spin Hall states at zero magnetic field.

Spin-crossover nanoparticles have been covalently grafted onto a semiconducting MoS₂ layer to form a self-strainable heterostructure. Under light or thermal stimulus, the nanoparticles switch between their high- and low-spin states, in which they have different volumes. This generates a reversible strain over the MoS₂ layer and, in turn, alters the electrical and optical properties of the heterostructure.

Magnetic phase transitions typically lead to changes in a materials magnetostrictive properties. Here, Šiškins et al use the motion of a nanodrum to study the nonlinear magneto-mechanical response of FePS₃, and observe changes in the nonlinear stiffness and damping near the Neel temperature.

Through chemical design, the spins in molecular nanomagnets may be used as electrically tunable qubits. Electrical control of molecular distortion enables manipulation of the quantum spin state while suppressing decoherence from magnetic fields.

Van der Waals antiferromagnets offer a unique platform for studying magnetism in reduced dimensions, however, the low dimensionality, combined with lack of net magnetization, renders investigation challenging with conventional experimental probes. Here, Houmes et al show how van der Waals antiferromagnets can be investigated via the resonances of a vibrating rectangular membranes of this material.

Two-dimensional magnets and superconductors are emerging as tunable building blocks for quantum computing and superconducting spintronic devices. Here, Jo et al. demonstrate NbSe₂/CrSBr van der Waals superconducting spin valves that exhibit infinite magnetoresistance and nonreciprocal charge transport, arising from a unique metamagnetic transition in CrSBr.

Surface engineering is an attractive route to tune the processability, stability and functionalities of 2D materials, but typically introduces defects in the resulting structures. Now, the issue has been circumvented through pre-synthetic functionalization instead; an isoreticular family of robust layered coordination polymers has been mechanically exfoliated to give functionalized crystalline magnetic monolayers.

Magnetic molecules are candidates for solid-state spin qubits from which a quantum computer might be constructed, but the magnetic interactions between such molecules typically lead to unwanted decoherence; now magnetic molecules have been designed in such a way that their spin dynamics are energetically protected against the decoherence-inducing interactions.

This Review discusses the expansion of the field of molecular magnetism from the chemical design and physical study of single-molecule magnets and multifunctional magnetic materials towards physics- and nanotechnology-driven areas, in particular molecular spintronics, quantum technologies, metal–organic frameworks and 2D materials.

Highly correlated quantum phases in materials like 1T-TiSe₂ arise from complex interactions, yet the mechanisms driving charge density waves remain debated. Here, the authors employ high-harmonic generation spectroscopy to explore these phase transitions, revealing insights into the interplay of electron-phonon and excitonic mechanisms.

Spins in molecules provide a simple platform with which to encode a quantum bit (qubit), the elementary unit of future quantum computers. This Perspective discusses how chemistry can contribute to designing robust spin systems based, in particular, on mononuclear lanthanoid complexes.