Magnetic properties of a Kramers doublet. An univocal bridge between experimental results and theoretical predictions

The interpretation and prediction of lanthanide single-ion magnet from ab initio electronic structure calculation: The capability and limit

Single-molecule magnet (SMM) is a fascinating system holding the potential of being revolutionary micro-electronic device in information technology. However current SMMs are still far away from real-life application due to...

Regulating the magnetic properties of seven-coordinated Dy(III) single-ion magnets through the effect of positional isomers on axial crystal-field

Six Dy(III) single-ion magnets (SIMs) [Dy(n-OMe-bbpen)X] were synthesized by a solvothermal reaction with three positional isomers (ortho, meta, and para) of ligands n-OMe-H₂bbpen and dysprosium halides DyX₃, (n-OMe-H₂bbpen = N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-n-methoxybenzyl)-N,N'-bis(2-methylpyridyl)ethylenediamine; n = 3, X = Cl, 1; n = 3, X = Br, 2; n = 4, X = Cl, 3; n = 4, X = Br, 4; n = 5, X = Cl, 5; n = 5, X = Br, 6). Dynamic magnetic measurements revealed that the six complexes possess notably different effective barriers of magnetic reversal: 872.0 K (1), 1210.1 K (2), 137.9 K (3), 602.6 K (4), 907.0 K (5) and 1216.7 K (6). 6 showed the best performance as SIMs among the six Dy(III) complexes. Moreover, the magnetic hysteresis loops of 6 remained open at 21 K. The crystal structures indicate the switching of local symmetry around Dy(III) ion, aroused by the variation in intermolecular interactions and steric effects. This switch is primarily correlated with the distinction of magnetic properties. In addition, ab initio calculations confirmed that the different electrostatic potential around Dy(III) ion stemming from the electronic effect of the OMe-substituted group is another factor leading to the distinction in magnetic properties. This work warns us that when designing ligands for Dy-SIMs, the effect of positional isomerism on magnetic performance must be considered, which is one of the factors that can easily be overlooked.

Improving the single-molecule magnet properties of two pentagonal bipyramidal Dy3+ compounds by the introduction of both electron-withdrawing and -donating groups

Two mononuclear Dy³⁺ compounds [Dy(bmbpen-F)X] (X = Cl, 1; Br, 2) with a pentagonal bipyramidal (PBP) geometry were obtained from N,N'-bis-(5-methyl-2-hydroxybenzyl)-N,N'-bis(5-fluoro-2-methylpyridyl)ethylenediamine (H₂bmbpen-F) and dysprosium halides. The magnetic anisotropy and single-molecule magnet (SMM) behavior of these PBP compounds were regulated by introducing both electron-withdrawing F atoms into the equatorial pyridine rings and electron-donating -CH₃ groups into the axial phenolic hydroxyl rings. The results of magnetic characterization show that 1 and 2 exhibit single molecule magnet behavior with magnetization reversal barriers of 990(13) and 1189(16) K under a zero dc external field and magnetic hysteresis loops up to 26 K and 36 K, respectively. The results of ab initio calculations are consistent with the experimental observations, confirming that the simultaneous introduction of electron-withdrawing groups into the equatorial positions and electron-donating groups into the axial positions can lead to PBP Dy-SMMs with improved properties.

The anisotropy of the internal magnetic field on the central ion is capable of imposing great impact on the quantum tunneling of magnetization of Kramers single-ion magnets

In this work, a theoretical method, taking into account the anisotropy of the internal magnetic field (B[combining right harpoon above]int), is proposed to predict the rate of quantum tunneling of magnetization (QTM), i.e., τQTM-1, for Kramers single-ion magnets (SIMs). Direct comparison to both experimental and previous theoretical results of three typical Kramers SIMs indicates the necessity of the inclusion of the anisotropy of B[combining right harpoon above]int for accurate description of QTM. The predictions of the method here are consistent with the theory proposed by Prokof'ev and Stamp (PS). For Kramers SIMs of high magnetic axiality, the QTM rates, predicted by the method here, are almost linearly proportional to the results by the PS method. The dependence of τQTM-1 on various parameters is analyzed for model systems. The averaged magnitude of B[combining right harpoon above]int (Bave) and principal g value of the axial direction (gZ) are the parameters on which τQTM-1 is linearly dependent. The ones on which τQTM-1 is quadratically dependent are gXY, i.e., the principal g value of the transversal direction, and xaniso characterizing the anisotropy of B[combining right harpoon above]int. Compared to Bave and gZ, gXY and xaniso provide a higher order of dependence for QTM. Therefore regulation of the SMM property via introduction of desired values of gXY and xaniso ought to be a strategy more efficient than the one via Bave and gZ. Being different from the one via gXY, the strategy via xaniso to regulate the QTM has been rarely touched upon according to our best knowledge. However, this strategy could also lead to significant improvement since it is the same as gXY in the aspect of the dependence of τQTM-1.

Solvent responses and substituent effects upon magnetic properties of mononuclear DyIII compounds

Solvent responsive magnets comprise a class of molecule-based materials where lattice solvent driven structural transformation leads to the switching of magnetic properties. Herein, we present a special type of magnet where single-crystal to single-crystal (SCSC) transformations within mononuclear DyIII compounds result in the switching of DyIII single-molecule magnets (SMMs). This structural transformation involves lattice solvents which leads to significant changes in the color and magnetic properties. Additionally, the relaxation dynamics of mononuclear DyIII compounds are perceptibly fine-tuned by the modification of β-diketonate ligands. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropies, magneto-structural correlations and the relaxation mechanism were investigated by magnetic studies and ab initio calculations. These experimental and theoretical studies indicate that compound 2 exhibits the best magnetic properties in compounds 1-4. The experimental observation is supported by the theoretical prediction of QTM time (τZeeQTM) as theτZeeQTM of 2 is remarkably longer than those of the other three compounds by an order of magnitude. This means that, compared with 1, 3, and 4, the magnetic relaxation of 2 is significantly slower. Meanwhile, 2 has the largest value of axial ESP (the axial electrostatic potential), which supports the smallest gXY value in these compounds, resulting in better SMM properties. The present results offer a systematic synthesis regulation to change the magnetization dynamics and further understand magneto-structural correlations for DyIII SMMs.

In Situ Ligand Formation in the Synthetic Processes from Mononuclear Dy(III) Compounds to Binuclear Dy(III) Compounds: Synthesis, Structure, Magnetic Behavior, and Theoretical Analysis

Guided by the self-assembled process and mechanism, the strategy of in situ Schiff base reaction would be capable of bringing a feasible method to construct and synthesize lanthanide compounds with distinct structures and magnetic properties. A mononuclear Dy(III) compound was synthesized through a multidentate Schiff base ligand and a chelating β-diketonate ligand, which was named as [Dy(L)(bppd)]·CH₃OH [1; H₂L = N,N'-bis(2-hydroxy-5-methyl-3-formylbenzyl)-N,N'-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)ethylenediamine and bppd = 3-bis(pyridin-2-yl)propane-1,3-dione]. Furthermore, a new binuclear Dy(III) compound, [Dy₂(H₂Lox)(bppd)₃]·8CH₃OH [2; H₄Lox = N,N'-bis[2-hydroxy-5-methyl-3-(hydroxyiminomethyl)benzyl]-N,N'-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)ethylenediamine], was obtained via an in situ synthetic process. Under similar synthetic conditions, [Dy(L)(ctbd)] [3; ctbd = 1-(4-chlorophenyl)-4,4,4-trifluoro-1,3-butanedione] and [Dy₂(H₂Lox)(ctbd)₃]·CH₃OH·C₄H₁₀O (4) were synthesized by modifying the β-diketonate ligand and in situ Schiff base reaction. Compound 3 is a mononuclear configuration, while compound 4 exhibits a binuclear Dy(III) unit. Therein, formylbenzyl groups of H₂L in 1 and 3 were changed to (hydroxyiminomethyl)benzyl groups in 2 and 4, respectively. In isomorphous 2 and 4, two Dy(III) centers are connected through two phenol O^- atoms of the H₂Lox^2- ligand to form a binuclear structure. Eight-coordinated Dy(III) ions with different distortions can be observed in 1-4. The crystals of 1 and 3 suffered dissolution/precipitation to obtain 2 and 4, respectively. The relationship between the structure and magnetism in compounds 1-4 was discussed through the combination of structural, experimental, and theoretical investigations. Especially, the rates of quantum tunneling of magnetization of 1-4 were theoretically predicted and are consistent with the experimental results. For 2 and 4, the theoretically calculated dipolar parameters J_dip are consistent with the experimental observation of weak ferromagnetic coupling.

The influence of organic bases and substituted groups on coordination structures affording two mononuclear Dy(iii) single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and a novel Dy(iii)–K(i) compound with unusually coordinated fluorine atoms

The different organic bases and substituted groups of auxiliary ligands play an important role in synthetic processes, finally affording distinct structures and magnetic properties.

Multifunctional Binuclear Ln(III) Complexes Obtained via In Situ Tandem Reactions: Multiple Photoresponses to Volatile Organic Solvents and Anticounterfeiting and Magnetic Properties

The design and synthesis of simple lanthanide complexes with multiple functions have been widely studied and have faced certain challenges. Herein, we successfully synthesized the series of binuclear lanthanide complexes [Ln₂(L1)₂(NO₃)₄] (HL1 = 2-amino-1,2-bis(pyridin-2-yl)ethanol; Ln = Dy (Dy2), Tb (Tb2), Ho (Ho2) Er (Er2)) via the in situ self-condensation of Ln(NO₃)₃·6H₂O-catalyzed 2-aminomethylpyridine (16 steps) under solvothermal conditions. Dy2 was mixed with different volatile organic solvents, and photoluminescence tests demonstrated that it showed an excellent selective photoresponse to chloroform (CHCl₃). Sensing Tb2 on different organic solvents under the same conditions showed that it exhibited excellent selective photoresponse to methanol (CH₃OH). Even under EtOH conditions, Tb2 could selectively respond to small amounts of CH₃OH. To the best of our knowledge, achieving a selective photoresponse to various volatile organic compounds by changing the metal center of the complex is difficult. Furthermore, we performed anticounterfeiting tests on Tb2, and the results showed significant differences between the anticounterfeiting marks under white light and ultraviolet light conditions. The alternating current susceptibilities of Dy2 suggested that it was a typical single-molecule magnet (SMM) (U_eff = 93.62 K, τ₀ = 1.19 × 10^-5 s) under a 0 Oe dc field. Ab initio calculations on Dy2 indicated that the high degrees of axiality of the constituent mononuclear Dy fragments are the main reasons for the existence of SMM behavior.

Substitution Effects Regulate the Formation of Butterfly-Shaped Tetranuclear Dy(III) Cluster and Dy-Based Hydrogen-Bonded Helix Frameworks: Structure and Magnetic Properties

The generation of two types of complexes with different topological connections and completely different structural types merely via the substitution effect is extremely rare, especially for -CH₃ and -C₂H₅ substituents with similar physical and chemical properties. Herein, we used 3-methoxysalicylaldehyde, 1,2-cyclohexanediamine, and Dy(NO₃)₃·6H₂O to react under solvothermal conditions (CH₃OH:CH₃CN = 1:1) at 80 °C to obtain the butterfly-shaped tetranuclear Dy^III cluster [Dy₄(L¹)₄(μ₃-O)₂(NO₃)₂] (Dy₄, H₂L¹ = 6,6'-((1E,1'E)-(cyclohexane-1,3-diylbis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(2-methoxyphenol)). The ligand H₂L¹ was obtained by the Schiff base in situ reaction of 3-methoxysalicylaldehyde and 1,2-cyclohexanediamine. In the Dy₄ structure, (L¹)^2- has two different coordination modes: μ₂-η¹:η²:η¹:η¹ and μ₄-η¹:η²:η¹:η¹:η²:η¹. The four Dy^III ions are in two coordination environments: N₂O₆ (Dy1) and O₉ (Dy2). The magnetic testing of cluster Dy₄ without the addition of an external field revealed that it exhibited a clear frequency-dependent behavior. We changed 3-methoxysalicylaldehyde to 3-ethoxysalicylaldehyde and obtained one case of a hydrogen-bonded helix framework, [DyL²(NO₃)₃]_n·2CH₃CN (Dy-HHFs, H₂L² = 6,6'-((1E,1'E)-(cyclohexane-1,3-diylbis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(2-ethoxyphenol)), under the same reaction conditions. The ligand H₂L² was formed by the Schiff base in situ reaction of 3-ethoxysalicylaldehyde and 1,2-cyclohexanediamine. All Dy^III ions in the Dy-HHFs structure are in the same coordination environment (O₉). The twisted S-shaped (L²)^2- ligand is linked by a Dy(III) ion to form a spiral chain. The spiral chain is one of the independent units that is interconnected to form Dy-HHFs through three strong hydrogen-bonding interactions. Magnetic studies show that Dy-HHFs exhibits single-ion-magnet behavior (U_eff = 68.59 K and τ₀ = 1.10 × 10^-7 s, 0 Oe DC field; U_eff = 131.5 K and τ₀ = 1.22 × 10^-7 s, 800 Oe DC field). Ab initio calculations were performed to interpret the dynamic magnetic performance of Dy-HHFs, and a satisfactory consistency between theory and experiment exists.

A method to predict both the relaxation time of quantum tunneling of magnetization and the effective barrier of magnetic reversal for a Kramers single-ion magnet

A method to predict the relaxation time of quantum tunneling of magnetization and the magnetic reversal barrier with efficiency and reliability.

Three Dy(iii) single-ion magnets bearing the tropolone ligand: structure, magnetic properties and theoretical elucidation

Three Dy(iii) SIMs bearing the tropolone ligand are reported here with the tuning effect on their performances by ancillary ligands revealed via experimental magnetic investigations and theoretical calculations.

Two {ZnDyIII} complexes supported by monophenoxido/dicarboxylate bridges with multiple relaxation processes: carboxylato ancillary ligand-controlled magnetic anisotropy in square antiprismatic DyIII species

Two linear-shaped heterometallic trinuclear {ZnII2DyIII} clusters were prepared with a compartmental Schiff-base ligand and carboxylate as the co-ligand. The central DyIII ion is sandwiched by two [ZnHhms(RCOO)2] (H2hms = (2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)-semicarbazide) units to form a distorted square antiprismatic (SAP) geometry with D4d symmetry. The DyIII and ZnII ions are triply bridged by one unique monophenoxido/dicarboxylate group, where one of the carboxylates shows a severe angular distortion. The magnetic analysis revealed a field-dependent change with two relaxation processes in 1 and 2, which originated from the molecular magnetic center and dipolar-dipolar coupling. The dipole-induced slow relaxation disappeared upon magnetic-site dilution, while another faster relaxation appeared in the high frequency region associated with the different distortions of the antiprismatic sites for 1 and disordered structures for 2. Ab initio calculations revealed that two {ZnII2DyIII}-carboxylate complexes are axial in nature, but the remarkable quantum tunnelling of the magnetization exists in the ground state, which lowers the anisotropic barrier and prohibits zero-field single-molecule magnet behavior. The crystal field of the carboxylato ancillary ligands produces a competitive effect with the phenoxido bridging ligands on the magnetic anisotropy of the lanthanide ions, which greatly affects the electrostatic distribution of this type of {ZnII2DyIII} single-ion magnets (SIMs). The results offer a model for further investigating structural factors in the relaxation mechanism of SIM systems.

Analyses of sizable ZFS and magnetic tensors of high spin metallocomplexes

The fictitious spin-1/2 Hamiltonian approach is the putative method to analyze the fine-structure/hyperfine ESR spectra of high spin metallocomplexes having sizable zerofield splitting (ZFS), thus giving salient principal g-values far from around g = 2 without explicitly providing their ZFS parameters in most cases. Indeed, the significant departure of the g-values from g = 2 is indicative of the occurrence of their high spin states, but naturally they never agree with true g-values acquired by quantum chemical calculations such as sophisticated DFT or ab initio MO calculations. In this work, we propose facile approaches to determine the magnetic tensors of high spin metallocomplexes having sizable ZFS, instead of performing advanced high-field/high-frequency ESR spectroscopy. We have revisited analytical expressions for the relationship between effective g-values and true principal g-values for high spins. The useful analytical formulas for the g^eff-g^true relationships are given for S's up to 7/2. The genuine Zeeman perturbation formalism gives the exact solutions for S = 3/2, and for higher S's it is much more accurate than the pseudo-Zeeman perturbation approach documented so far (A. Abragam and B. Bleaney, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of Transition Metal Ions, 1970; J. R. Pilbrow, J. Magn. Reson., 1978, 31, 479; F. Trandafir et al., Appl. Magn. Reson., 2007, 31, 553; M. Fittipaldi et al., J. Phys. Chem. B, 2008, 112, 3859), in which the E(S_x² - S_y²) term is putatively treated to the second order. To show the usefulness of the present approach, we exploit Fe^III(Cl)OEP (S = 5/2) (OEP: 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethylporphyrin) and Co^IIOEP (S = 3/2) well magnetically diluted in the diamagnetic host crystal lattice of Ni^IIOEP. The advantage of single-crystal ESR spectroscopy lies in the fact that the molecular information on the principal axes of the magnetic tensors is crucial in comparing with reliable theoretical results. In high spin states of metallocomplexes with sizable ZFS in pseudo-octahedral symmetry, their fine-structure ESR transitions for the principal z-axis orientation appear in the lower field far from g = 2 at the X-band, disagreeing with the putative intuitive picture obtained using relevant ESR spectroscopy. A Re^III,IV dinuclear complex in a mixed valence state exemplifies the cases, whose fine-structure/hyperfine ESR spectra of the neat crystals have been analyzed in their principal-axis system. The DFT-based/ab initio MO calculations of the magnetic tensors for all the high spin entities in this work were carried out.

The slow magnetic relaxation regulated by the coordination, configuration and intermolecular dipolar field in two mononuclear DyIII single-molecule magnets (SMMs)

Tuning the magnetic dynamics of single-molecule magnets (SMMs) is a crucial challenge for chemists.

The photosynthetic cytochrome c 550 from the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

The photosynthetic cytochrome c ₅₅₀ from the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has been purified and characterized. Cytochrome c ₅₅₀ is mostly obtained from the soluble cell extract in relatively large amounts. In addition, the protein appeared to be truncated in the last hydrophobic residues of the C-terminus, both in the soluble cytochrome c ₅₅₀ and in the protein extracted from the membrane fraction, as deduced by mass spectrometry analysis and the comparison with the gene sequence. Interestingly, it has been described that the C-terminus of cytochrome c ₅₅₀ forms a hydrophobic finger involved in the interaction with photosystem II in cyanobacteria. Cytochrome c ₅₅₀ was almost absent in solubilized photosystem II complex samples, in contrast with the PsbO and Psb31 extrinsic subunits, thus suggesting a lower affinity of cytochrome c ₅₅₀ for the photosystem II complex. Under iron-limiting conditions the amount of cytochrome c ₅₅₀ decreases up to about 45% as compared to iron-replete cells, pointing to an iron-regulated synthesis. Oxidized cytochrome c ₅₅₀ has been characterized using continuous wave EPR and pulse techniques, including HYSCORE, and the obtained results have been interpreted in terms of the electrostatic charge distribution in the surroundings of the heme centre.