200 created from low cost zn doped precursors 101 has a coercivity level of about 2000 3000 oe and magnetizations greater than 180 emu g precursors 101 used in the preferred embodiment have zn in the range of about 0 01 to 20 atomic percent substituted for fe in the iron oxide precursor 101 with 1 10 atomic percent zn preferred in an alternative embodiment co doping of the precursor 101 can be performed to tailor and optimize magnetic properties with additions of zn and at least one additional element from the group consisting of al b c co cr hf mn nb ni si ta ti v zr and rare earths including ce la nd y dy sm at the 0 01 20 at level with 1 10 at preferred fig4 shows high angle annular dark field tem images of a fe 16 n 2 powder 200 synthesized from an iron oxide precursor 101 that was subjected to the reduction and nitridation process the image in fig4 confirms the formation of ordered fe 16 n 2 elemental mapping suggests a core of fe 16 n 2 possibly surrounded by a zn containing oxide that is a coating 103 on the.