TMTSF pressure induces superconductivity

The synthesis of the bis-l,3-dithiolium radical cation (TTF+) in 1970 [1] enabled dramatic growth in the field of molecular conductors in the decades thereafter. TTF and several of its homologues are depicted in Scheme 1. The field of low dimensional molecular metals was further motivated by the discovery of the TTF-TCNQ charge-transfer complex in 1973 [2, 3]. Seven years later, superconductivity was induced in the cation-radical salt, (TMTSF)2PF6, upon application of 12 kbar pressure [4]. Shortly thereafter, superconductivity below 1.4 K was observed at ambient pressure in the perchlorate analog [5]. 

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