Heterometallic chiral [Mn 13 Cu 8 ] single-molecule magnets.

An enantiomeric pair of 3d-3d heterometallic clusters of {Mn II Mn III 12 Cu II 8 } has been synthesized in an aqueous solution without heating. The crystal structures reveal a five-layered core of {Mn II Mn III 12 Cu II 8 }, which is a slightly distorted {Mn II Mn III 12 } tetradecahedron with its eight triangular faces capped by a Cu II ion respectively. The magnetic measurement results establish that anisotropic Mn III atom-containing clusters L-1 and D-1 exhibit slow relaxation of their magnetization vectors.