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based processing methods that introduce substantial economic advantages as well as prospects for fabricating devices with unusual (e.g., nonplanar) geometries.

History and Development of Molecular Materials

Solid State

Bruce M. Foxman and Michael D. Ward, Guest Editors Abstract The design and synthesis of solid-state materials constructed from molecules has emerged as an important frontier of materials research. Molecular materials promise an unparalleled opportunity for systematic manipulation of solid-state properties and functions by using molecular design principles and capitalizing on the versatility of organic synthesis. Furthermore, the use of molecular components may produce considerable economic benefits, whether by reducing fabrication cost or through increases in performance. The articles in this issue of MRS Bulletin cover recent discoveries and developments based on materials with properties and functions that hinge on the characteristics of their molecular constituents. These materials promise significant advances in several technologies of substantial commercial interest, including organic light-emitting diodes, nonlinear optics, gas separations, chiral separations, and molecular magnets.

Introduction Research during the last half of the 20th century led to the discovery and development of remarkable inorganic materials which spawned numerous technologies that collectively have become essential to modern society, as exemplified by silicon-based transistors, gallium arsenide lasers, ceramic piezoelectrics and thermoelectrics, and metallic and metal oxide magnetic storage media. Without these remarkable solids, progress in computers, electronics, optics, communication, energy storage, solar cells, machine tools, sensors, and more simply would not have been possible. Although inorganic materials will continue to play a central role in such applications, materials based on molecular building blocks offer unparalleled versatility with respect to properties and function. This already is amply demonstrated by the ubiquity of polymeric materials— molecular building blocks linked by covalent bonds—that unquestionably play a key role in numerous commercial arenas. More recently, the coupling of functional organic molecules with inorganic components has prompted considerable interest in “hybrid” materials and devices, for example, semiconductor field-effect transistors decorated with molecular and biomolecular receptors.1

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In the last decade, pronounced growth has occurred in functional solid-state materials that rely on the properties of uniquely tailored molecules embedded in the solid state either as isolated entities in composites or as single-phase materials containing discrete constituents—organic and organometallic molecules—held together by noncovalent forces. The ability of organic synthesis to produce functional molecules on demand promises substantial advances in materials design for existing technologies as well as emerging ones. As a group, molecular-based materials exhibit most of the pro