A new R&D on lithium molybdate scintillators has begun within a project CLYMENE (Czochralski growth of Li<math id="mml72" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si10.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>MoO<math id="mml73" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si11.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> crYstals for the scintillating boloMeters used in the rare EveNts sEarches). One of the main goals of the CLYMENE is a realization of a Li<math id="mml74" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si10.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>MoO<math id="mml75" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si11.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> crystal growth line to be complementary to the one recently developed by LUMINEU in view of a mass production capacity for CUPID, a next-generation tonne-scale bolometric experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. In the present paper we report the investigation of performance and radiopurity of 158-g and 13.5-g scintillating bolometers based on a first large-mass (230 g) Li<math id="mml76" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si10.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>MoO<math id="mml77" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si11.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> crystal scintillator developed within the CLYMENE project. In particular, a good energy resolution (2–7 keV FWHM in the energy range of 0.2–5 MeV), one of the highest light yield (0.97 keV/MeV) amongst Li<math id="mml78" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si10.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>MoO<math id="mml79" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si11.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> scintillating bolometers, an efficient alpha particles discrimination (10<math id="mml80" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si80.gif"><mi>σ</mi></math>) and potentially low internal radioactive contamination (below 0.2–0.3 mBq/kg of U/Th, but 1.4 mBq/kg of <sup loc="post">210</sup>Po) demonstrate prospects of the CLYMENE in the development of high quality and radiopure Li<math id="mml81" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si10.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msub></math>MoO<math id="mml82" display="inline" overflow="scroll" altimg="si11.gif"><msub><mrow/><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msub></math> scintillators for CUPID.< Réduire