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Lanthanide permanent magnets are widely used in applications ranging from nanotechnology to industrial engineering. However, limited access to the rare earths and rising costs associated with their extraction are spurring interest in the development of lanthanide‐free hard magnets. Zero‐ and one‐dimensional magnetic materials are intriguing alternatives due to their low densities, structural and chemical versatility, and the typically mild, bottom‐up nature of their synthesis. Here, we present two one‐dimensional cobalt(II) systems Co(hfac)₂(R‐NapNIT) (R‐NapNIT=2‐(2′‐(R‐)naphthyl)‐4,4,5,5‐tetramethylimidazoline‐1‐oxyl‐3‐oxide, R=MeO or EtO) supported by air‐stable nitronyl nitroxide radicals. These compounds are single‐chain magnets and exhibit wide, square magnetic hysteresis below 14 K, with giant coercive fields up to 65 or 102 kOe measured using static or pulsed high magnetic fields, respectively. Magnetic, spectroscopic, and computational studies suggest that the record coercivities derive not from three‐dimensional ordering but from the interaction of adjacent chains that compose alternating magnetic sublattices generated by crystallographic symmetry.

 

Silicon‐mediated fluoride abstraction is demonstrated as a means of generating the first fluorido‐cyanido transition metal complexes. This new synthetic approach is exemplified by the synthesis and characterization of the heteroleptic complexes,trans‐[M^IVF₄(CN)₂]²⁻(M=Re, Os), obtained from their homoleptic [M^IVF₆]²⁻parents. As shown by combined high‐field electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and magnetization measurements, the partial substitution of fluoride by cyanide ligands leads to a marked increase in the magnetic anisotropy oftrans‐[ReF₄(CN)₂]²⁻as compared to [ReF₆]²⁻, reflecting the severe departure from an ideal octahedral (O_hpoint group) ligand field. This methodology paves the way toward the realization of new heteroleptic transition metal complexes that may be used as highly anisotropic building‐blocks for the design of high‐performance molecule‐based magnetic materials.

 

The first structurally characterized hexafluorido complex of a tetravalent actinide ion, the [UF₆]²⁻anion, is reported in the (NEt₄)₂[UF₆]⋅2 H₂O salt (1). The weak magnetic response of1results from both U^IVspin and orbital contributions, as established by combining X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) spectroscopy and bulk magnetization measurements. The spin and orbital moments are virtually identical in magnitude, but opposite in sign, resulting in an almost perfect cancellation, which is corroborated by ab initio calculations. This work constitutes the first experimental demonstration of a seemingly non‐magnetic molecular actinide complex carrying sizable spin and orbital magnetic moments.

 

The use of radical bridging ligands to facilitate strong magnetic exchange between paramagnetic metal centers represents a key step toward the realization of single-molecule magnets with high operating temperatures. Moreover, bridging ligands that allow the incorporation of high-anisotropy metal ions are particularly advantageous. Toward these ends, we report the synthesis and detailed characterization of the dinuclear hydroquinone-bridged complexes [(Me 6 tren) 2 MII2(C 6 H 4 O 2 2− )] 2+ (Me 6 tren = tris(2-dimethylaminoethyl)amine; M = Fe, Co, Ni) and their one-electron-oxidized, semiquinone-bridged analogues [(Me 6 tren) 2 MII2(C 6 H 4 O 2 − ˙)] 3+ . Single-crystal X-ray diffraction shows that the Me 6 tren ligand restrains the metal centers in a trigonal bipyramidal geometry, and coordination of the bridging hydro- or semiquinone ligand results in a parallel alignment of the three-fold axes. We quantify the p -benzosemiquinone–transition metal magnetic exchange coupling for the first time and find that the nickel( ii ) complex exhibits a substantial J < −600 cm −1 , resulting in a well-isolated S = 3/2 ground state even as high as 300 K. The iron and cobalt complexes feature metal–semiquinone exchange constants of J = −144(1) and −252(2) cm −1 , respectively, which are substantially larger in magnitude than those reported for related bis(bidentate) semiquinoid complexes. Finally, the semiquinone-bridged cobalt and nickel complexes exhibit field-induced slow magnetic relaxation, with relaxation barriers of U eff = 22 and 46 cm −1 , respectively. Remarkably, the Orbach relaxation observed for the Ni complex is in stark contrast to the fast processes that dominate relaxation in related mononuclear Ni II complexes, thus demonstrating that strong magnetic coupling can engender slow magnetic relaxation.