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In situelectrochemical analysis enables access to metal aquo PCET model complexes which are synthetically elaborated and speciation was determined. 

The energetic disorder induced by fluctuating liquid environments acts in opposition to the precise control required for coherence-based sensing. Overcoming fluctuations requires a protected quantum subspace that only weakly interacts with the local environment. We report a ytterbium complex that exhibited an ultranarrow absorption linewidth in solution at room temperature with a full width at half maximum of 0.625 milli–electron volts. Using spectral hole burning, we measured an even narrower linewidth of 410 pico–electron volts at 77 kelvin. Narrow linewidths allowed low-field magnetic circular dichroism at room temperature, used to sense Earth-scale magnetic fields. These results demonstrated that ligand protection in lanthanide complexes could substantially diminish electronic state fluctuations. We have termed this system an “atomlike molecular sensor” (ALMS) and proposed approaches to improve its performance. 

Manganese ([Mn(CO) 3 ]) and rhenium tricarbonyl ([Re(CO) 3 ]) complexes represent a workhorse family of compounds with applications in a variety of fields. Here, the coordination, structural, and electrochemical properties of a family of mono- and bimetallic [Mn(CO) 3 ] and [Re(CO) 3 ] complexes are explored. In particular, a novel heterobimetallic complex featuring both [Mn(CO) 3 ] and [Re(CO) 3 ] units supported by 2,2′-bipyrimidine (bpm) has been synthesized, structurally characterized, and compared to the analogous monomeric and homobimetallic complexes. To enable a comprehensive structural analysis for the series of complexes, we have carried out new single crystal X-ray diffraction studies of seven compounds: Re(CO) 3 Cl(bpm), anti -[{Re(CO 3 )Cl} 2 (bpm)], Mn(CO) 3 Br(bpz) (bpz = 2,2′-bipyrazine), Mn(CO) 3 Br(bpm), syn - and anti -[{Mn(CO 3 )Br} 2 (bpm)], and syn -[Mn(CO 3 )Br(bpm)Re(CO) 3 Br]. Electrochemical studies reveal that the bimetallic complexes are reduced at much more positive potentials (Δ E ≥ 380 mV) compared to their monometallic analogues. This redox behavior is consistent with introduction of the second tricarbonyl unit which inductively withdraws electron density from the bridging, redox-active bpm ligand, resulting in more positive reduction potentials. [Re(CO 3 )Cl] 2 (bpm) was reduced with cobaltocene; the electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum of the product exhibits an isotropic signal (near g = 2) characteristic of a ligand-centered bpm radical. Our findings highlight the facile synthesis as well as the structural characteristics and unique electrochemical behavior of this family of complexes.