New families of compounds that combine both spin crossover and single-ion magnets properties in one molecule have been synthesized and their properties investigated in order to better understand the impact this type of molecules could play in quantum computing. It is worth mentioning that slight structural modifications can completely change the molecular properties, and therefore a rigorous study is compulsory in order to be able to choose the best systems that fit scientific expectations and could be either developed for further investigation. Hence, future efforts will be devoted to investigate the related family of cobalt(II)-based SCO-SIM molecules with chiral-, optical-, redox-, and/or photoactive imine substituents on the PDI ligands as new examples of multiresponsive and multifunctional magnetic molecules for potential applications in the context of molecular spintronics and quantum computing technologies. Indeed, this ligand design approach offers convenient tools for the rational design of magnetic molecules with one or more specific functions, in addition to the magnetic ones, that are potentially switchable under external stimuli (e.g. thermal variation and light irradiation, electric and magnetic fields, chemical and redox potential, or mechanical force and hydrostatic pressure). This novel class of stimuli-responsive multifunctional SCO-SIMs may thus lead to the discovery of new bistable molecular nanomagnets obtained by rational molecular design, which offer great expectations for the physical implementation of quantum information processing (QIP) in high-density magnetic memory and quantum computing devices.
