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Title: Trends in trigonal prismatic Ln-[1]ferrocenophane complexes and discovery of a Ho 3+ single-molecule magnet
Lanthanide metallocenophanes are an intriguing class of organometallic complexes that feature rare six-coordinate trigonal prismatic coordination environments of 4f elements with close intramolecular proximity to transition metal ions. Herein, we present a systematic study of the structural and magnetic properties of the ferrocenophanes, [LnFc 3 (THF) 2 Li 2 ] − , of the late trivalent lanthanide ions (Ln = Gd ( 1 ), Ho ( 2 ), Er ( 3 ), Tm ( 4 ), Yb ( 5 ), Lu ( 6 )). One major structural trend within this class of complexes is the increasing diferrocenyl (Fc 2− ) average twist angle with decreasing ionic radius ( r ion ) of the central Ln ion, resulting in the largest average Fc 2− twist angles for the Lu 3+ compound 6 . Such high sensitivity of the twist angle to changes in r ion is unique to the here presented ferrocenophane complexes and likely due to the large trigonal plane separation enforced by the ligand (>3.2 Å). This geometry also allows the non-Kramers ion Ho 3+ to exhibit slow magnetic relaxation in the absence of applied dc fields, rendering compound 2 a rare example of a Ho-based single-molecule magnet (SMM) with barriers to magnetization reversal ( U ) of 110–131 cm −1 . In contrast, compounds featuring Ln ions with prolate electron density ( 3–5 ) don't show slow magnetization dynamics under the same conditions. The observed trends in magnetic properties of 2–5 are supported by state-of-the-art ab initio calculations. Finally, the magneto-structural relationship of the trigonal prismatic Ho-[1]ferrocenophane motif was further investigated by axial ligand (THF in 2 ) exchange to yield [HoFc 3 (THF*) 2 Li 2 ] − ( 2-THF* ) and [HoFc 3 (py) 2 Li 2 ] − ( 2-py ) motifs. We find that larger average Fc 2− twist angles (in 2-THF* and 2-py as compared to in 2 ) result in faster magnetic relaxation times at a given temperature.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1753014
NSF-PAR ID:
10157308
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Chemical Science
Volume:
11
Issue:
15
ISSN:
2041-6520
Page Range / eLocation ID:
3936 to 3951
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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