Synthesis and magnetic properties of a series of 3d/4f/3d heterometallic trinuclear complexes incorporating in situ ligand formation

Heterometallic Complexes Containing the NiII-LnIII-NiII Moiety—Structures and Magnetic Properties

This review summarizes the structural characteristics and magnetic properties of trinuclear complexes containing the NiII-LnIII-NiII moiety and also oligonuclear complexes and coordination polymers containing the same trinuclear moiety. The ligands used are mainly polydentate Schiff base ligands and reduced Schiff base ligands and, in some cases, oximato, β-diketonato, pyridyl ketone ligands and others. The compounds reported are restricted to those containing one, two and three oxygen atoms as bridges between the metal ions; examples of carboxylato and oximato bridging are also included due to structural similarity. The magnetic properties of the complexes range from ferro- to antiferromagnetic depending on the nature of the lanthanide ion.

Trinuclear NiII-LnIII-NiII Complexes with Schiff Base Ligands: Synthesis, Structure, and Magnetic Properties

The reaction of the Schiff base ligand o-OH-C6H4-CH=N-C(CH2OH)3, H4L, with Ni(O2CMe)2∙4H2O and lanthanide nitrate salts in a 4 : 2 : 1 ratio lead to the formation of the trinuclear complexes [Ni2Ln(H3L)4(O2CMe)2](NO3) (Ln = Sm (1), Eu (2), Gd (3), Tb (4)). The complex cations contain the strictly linear NiII-LnIII-NiII moiety. The central LnIII ion is bridged to each of the terminal NiII ions through two deprotonated phenolato groups from two different ligands. Each terminal NiII ion is bound to two ligands in distorted octahedral N2O4 environment. The central lanthanide ion is coordinated to four phenolato oxygen atoms from the four ligands, and four carboxylato oxygen atoms from two acetates which are bound in the bidentate chelate mode. The lattice structure of complex 4 consists of two interpenetrating, supramolecular diamond like lattices formed through hydrogen bonds among neighboring trinuclear clusters. The magnetic properties of 1-4 were studied. For 3 the best fit of the magnetic susceptibility and isothermal M(H) data gave JNiGd = +0.42 cm-1, D = +2.95 cm-1 with gNi = gGd = 1.98. The ferromagnetic nature of the intramolecular Ni···Gd interaction revealed ground state of total spin S = 11/2. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE) parameters for 3 show that the change of the magnetic entropy (-ΔSm) reaches a maximum of 14.2 J kg-1 K-1 at 2 K. A brief literature survey of complexes containing the NiII-LnIII-NiII moiety is discussed in terms of their structural properties.

Influence of ancillary ligands and solvents on the nuclearity of Ni-Ln complexes

A Schiff base ligand resulting from the reaction of ovanillin and 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-diaminopropane allows the preparation of hetero-dinuclear [Ni-Ln]³⁺ or -trinuclear [Ni-Ln-Ni]³⁺ complexes. Although empirical parameters for rationalizing the strength of the ferromagnetic Ni-Gd interaction have already been discussed in several papers, no systematic study has been devoted to the control of the nuclearity of such complexes. With the help of structural determinations, we demonstrate the role of solvent and of the nature of ancillary ligands, linked to the Ln ions, in nuclearity. For instance, the presence of one chelating nitrato ligand is already sufficient to impede an increase in the nuclearity, while the replacement of nitrato ligands by chloride anions still yields dinuclear Ni-Ln complexes. This experimental result evidences the role of protic solvents. In contrast, the use of lanthanide salts, soluble in non-protic solvents, allows the isolation of dinuclear [Ni-Ln]³⁺ or trinuclear cationic [LNi-Ln-NiL]³⁺ complexes, depending on the Ni/Ln ratio. A further synthetic step can be overtaken by the reaction of a Ni-Ln complex, soluble in a non-protic solvent, with a LM complex (M = Cu, Zn). By doing so, a heterotrinuclear complex made of three different metal ions, two distinct 3d ions and a 4f one, has been isolated and structurally characterized. Note that the Ni coordination number decreases from 6 to 5 on going from the dinuclear complex to the trinuclear one. Also, the replacement of water molecules by chloride ligands in the hexacoordinate Ni complexes induces a net increase of the positive zero-field splitting parameter D to 20 cm^-1, which is supported by ab initio calculations. Although the Ni-Ln (Ln = Gd, Tb, Dy) magnetic interactions are ferromagnetic, the corresponding trinuclear complexes are devoid of SMM properties in the absence of an applied magnetic field.

A new co-crystal dinuclear/trinuclear ZnII-ZnII/ZnII-SmIII-ZnII complex with a salen-type Schiff base ligand

In the penta-nuclear title complex, [SmZn2(C22H18N2O4)2(NCS)2(C3H7NO)2][Zn2(C22H18N2O4)(NCS)3]·C3H7NO·0.32H2O, namely bis-{μ2-6,6'-dimeth-oxy-2,2'-[phenyl-ene-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo-methanylyl-idene)]diphenolato}-1κ4 O,N,N',O':2κ3 O,O',O 6;2κ3 O,O',O 6:3κ4 O,N,N',O'-bis-(di-methyl-formamide-2κO)di-thiocyanato-1κN,3κN-2-samarium(III)-1,3-dizinc(II) {μ2-6,6'-dimeth-oxy-2,2'-[phenyl-ene-1,2-diylbis(nitrilo-methanylyl-idene)]diphenolato-1κ4 O,N,N',O':2κ2 O,O'}trithio-cyan-ato-1κN;2κ2 N,N-dizinc(II) di-methyl-formamide monosolvate 1.32-hydrate, a dinuclear unit and a trinuclear unit co-exist. One of the ZnII centers in the dinuclear unit as well as the two ZnII centers in the trinuclear unit are located in the inner N2O2 cavity of the ligand and are coordinated to the nitro-gen atom of one thio-cyanate moiety, giving rise to a square-pyramidal geometry. The second ZnII center in the dinuclear unit is coordinated to the two phenolate oxygen atoms of the ligand and to two thio-cyanate groups via the nitro-gen atom in a tetra-hedral geometry. The SmIII ion is eight-coordinated by four phenolate O atoms from the two ligand mol-ecules, two meth-oxy O atoms from the two ligand mol-ecules and two O atoms from the DFM solvent mol-ecule. In the dinuclear unit, the two meth-oxy oxygen atoms remain uncoordinated while in the trinuclear unit, for each ligand one meth-oxy oxygen is coordinated and the other one remains uncoordinated. In the crystal, the trinuclear cationic units and dinuclear anionic units are assembled into infinite layers. These layers are held together via electrostatic inter-actions, forming a three-dimensional structure. In the dinuclear unit, the C and S atoms of one of the thio-cyanate groups are disordered over two sets of sites in a 0.680 (4)(4):0.320 (4) ratio.