Terminal Ligand (L) Effects on Zero-Magnetic-Field Splitting in the Excited Triplet States of [{Mo6Br8}L6]2- (L = Aromatic Carboxylates).

We report the emission properties of the octahedral hexamolybdenum(II) bromide-core ({Mo6Br8}4+) clusters having a series of terminal aromatic carboxylate ligands (RCOO), [{Mo6Br8}(RCOO)6]2-, in solution and crystalline phases. The acid dissociation constant of RCOOH (p Ka(L)) was shown to govern the redox and emission properties of the clusters. Temperature ( T)-controlled emission experiments (3-300 K) demonstrated that the clusters showed large T-dependent emission energies (ν̃em) and lifetimes (τem) because of zero-magnetic-field splitting in the emissive excited triplet (T1) states. The spin sublevel (Φ n, n = 1-4) model in the T1 state of the cluster explained very well the T-dependent emission characteristics (ν̃em and τem), irrespective of the clusters studied. Furthermore, we revealed that the energy difference between the lowest-energy (Φ1) and energetically upper-lying third (Φ3) or fourth spin sublevels (Φ4), Δ E13 or Δ E14, respectively, correlated very well with p Ka( L). The results are discussed in terms of the variation of the effective nuclear charge of the Mo metal center(s) in [{Mo6Br8}(RCOO)6]2- with that of p Ka(L).