New Homometallic Octanuclear Chromium(III) Rings

Four new {Cr8} rings have been synthesized and characterized; they are all based on the classic [CrF(O2CtBu)2]8 ring 1. Three routes have been studied. The first is direct synthesis, by reacting hydrated chromium(III) fluorides with the acid; this has been used to produce LS[CrF(O2CEt)2]8 3. The second route uses 3 as a precursor and substitute with an incoming carboxylate. This has been used to make [CrF(O2CCCl3)2]8 4 and [CrF(O2CC6F5)2]8 5. The third route uses LSN-ethyl-D-glucamine (H5Etglu) as a template and produces chiral rings [Cr8F4(Etglu)(O2CtBu)15] 6. The single crystal X-ray structures of these new compounds are reported.

Aluminium nanorings: configuration deformation and structural transformation

Present herein is the first example of aluminium nanoring assembly by fatty acids. And the auxiliary alcohol sites can be modified either by monohydric alcohols (AlOC-33 to AlOC-35) or diols (AlOC-36 to AlOC-38). The monohydric alcohol modified ten-membered aluminium (Al10) rings are coplanar, while the diol modified ones possess a saddle-shaped configuration. Interestingly, the diol modified Al10 ring (AlOC-36) can convert into a coplanar ring (AlOC-33-B). AlOC-33-B possesses a similar molecular structure but a different supramolecular structure with AlOC-33. The structural transformation is confirmed to be a thermodynamically spontaneous process through density-functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Investigating the effect of lanthanide radius and diamagnetic linkers on the framework of metallacrown complexes

By changing the stoichiometric ratios, the one-pot reaction of the glycinehydroxamic acid (H2glyha) ligand with copper(ii) and lanthanide(iii) salts in the presence of diamagnetic [Na2{Fe(CN)5(NO)}] led to two series of isostructural complexes, which can be designated as heterotrimetallic dimeric clusters [{LnCu5(glyha)5}{Fe(CN)5(NO)}(H2O)4]2·xNO3·yH2O (x = 2, y = 11 for La (1), x = 2, y = 11 for Pr (2), and x = 2, y = 11 for Nd (3)) and heterotetrametallic coordination polymers [Na{LnCu5(glyha)5}{Fe(CN)5(NO)}2(H2O)x·yH2O]n (x = 6, y = 4 for Sm (4), x = 6, y = 0 for Gd (5), x = 6, y = 4 for Tb (6), x = 5, y = 5 Dy (7), and x = 6, y = 4 for Ho (8)). Each molecular structure contains LnIII[15-metallacrown-5] nodes and diamagnetic [Fe(CN)5(NO)]2- linkers. The resulting products demonstrate diversified structural frameworks due to the radius effect of LnIII ions and different bridging fashions of diamagnetic [Fe(CN)5(NO)]2- linkers. An analysis of magnetic susceptibilities reveals that 7 exhibits ferromagnetic coupling between CuII and DyIII ions and field-induced SMM behavior.

Reversible uptake of sulfur-containing gases by single crystals of a 8 metallacrown

The exposure of green crystals of the [CrF(O₂C^tBu)₂]₈Cr₈ metallacrown to SO₂ and H₂S gases results in the binding of the gas molecules in the internal molecular cavity, despite the absence of any pores or channels in the structure.