A black-box approach to the construction of metal-radical multispin systems and analysis of their magnetic properties

Two Discoveries in One Crystal: σ-Type Oxime Radical as an Unforeseen Building Block in Molecular Magnetics and Its Spatial Structure

In the present work, the study of the unusual interaction between copper hexafluoroacetylacetonate and the diacetyliminoxyl radical resulted in two discoveries from different fields: the determination of the oxime radical spatial structure and the introduction of an oxime radical into the field of molecular magnetic material design. Oxime radicals are key plausible intermediates in the processes of oxidative CH-functionalization and in the synthesis of functionalized isoxazolines from oximes. Due to the lack of X-ray diffraction data for oxime radicals, the knowledge about their structure is based mainly on indirect approaches, spectroscopic methods (electron paramagnetic resonance and IR), and quantum chemical calculations. The structure of the oxime radical was determined for the first time by stabilizing the diacetyliminoxyl radical in the form of its complex with copper (II) hexafluoroacetylacetonate (Cu(hfac)₂), followed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Although oxime radicals are known to undergo oxidative coupling with acetylacetonate ligands in transition-metal complexes, a complex is formed with intact hfac ligands. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that the oxime radical is coordinated with copper ions through the oxygen atoms of the carbonyl groups without the direct involvement of the C═N-O^• radical moiety. The structure of the coordinated diacetyliminoxyl is in good agreement with the density functional theory (DFT) prediction for free diacetyliminoxyl due to the very weak interaction of the radical molecule with copper ions. Remarkably, both weak ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions between Cu (II) and oxime radicals have been revealed by modeling the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility and confirmed by DFT calculations, rendering diacetyliminoxyl a promising building block for the design of molecular magnets.