Making soluble Dy 2 single-molecule magnets red emissive through their functionalization by ruthenium-cyanido luminophores.

We present an efficient strategy for obtaining red-emissive molecular nanomagnets by exploring a heterometallic approach. We report the {[Dy III (4-pyridone) 5 ] 2 [Ru II (CN) 2 (phen) 2 ] 2 }·(CF 3 SO 3 ) 6 ·2MeOH (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) compound composed of exchange-coupled {DyIII2} single-molecule magnets functionalized by Ru(II)-cyanido units. The latter makes the resulting {DyIII2RuII2} 6+ cations a unique example of a soluble lanthanide SMM exhibiting red charge-transfer photoluminescence in the solution and solid state, well enhanced when compared with the cyanido precursor.