We report a weak anisotropic ferromagnetic
behavior in a purely
organic molecule at room temperature, a property rarely reported in
organic nanomaterials. The reported 1,2-bis(tritylthio)ethane, forming
plate- and organic-flower-like morphologies at the nanolevel, is the
first organic crystal with an inherent magnetic property at 300 and
2 K. However, at low temperatures, the magnetization value [M
max(T) ∼ 116 emu/mol
at 2 K] increases drastically at 3 orders higher compared to 300 K.
Interestingly, the system exhibits strong anisotropy with an anisotropic
constant, K
1 ∼ 3.25 × 103 erg/cc, and anisotropy field, H
K ∼ 3.25 kOe. Below 10 K, this system displays unusual temperature
dependence of the coercive field [H
C(T)] and remanence magnetization [M
R(T)] with a hysteresis-peak anomaly (T* ∼ 10–15 K) due to the enhanced spin–orbit
coupling. The maximum H
C and M
R at T* were H
C = 220 Oe and M
R ∼ 12 emu/mol,
respectively. Beyond T*, H
C(T) and M
R(T) drop continuously and become negligible as the measurement temperature
approaches 300 K. Our results demonstrate that the triphenyl molecules
can be further exploited for the design and synthesis of organic magnets
for possible applications in spintronics and memory storage devices.