Single-Molecule-Magnet FeII4FeIII2 and Antiferromagnetic FeIII4 Coordination Clusters.

Supported by endogenous (part of the ligand, in-built) phenoxo bridges provided by the ligand 2,6-bis[{{(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzyl)}{(2-(pyridylethyl)}amino}methyl]-4-methylphenol) (H3L), in its deprotonated form, exogenous (not part of the ligand, externally added or generated) oxo-/hydroxo- and acetato-bridged [FeII4FeIII2(O)2(O2CMe)4(L)2]·4Et2O (1) and [FeIII4(OH)2(O2CMe)3(L)2](ClO4)·3MeCN·2H2O (2) coordination clusters have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Complexes 1 and 2 have μ4-O and μ3-OH bridges, respectively. Magnetic studies on 1 reveal slow magnetic relaxation below 2 K. Both in-phase ( χ'M) and out-of-phase (χ″M) magnetic susceptibility were found to be frequency dependent. This is typical of a single-molecule magnet (SMM) with τ0 = 1.9(2) × 10-7 s-1 and Ea = 5.1(3) cm-1. Assuming that Ea corresponds to the energy splitting of the ground spin state ( S = 2) by the zero-filed-splitting (zfs), Ea = 4| D| ( D is the axial zfs parameter), D ≈ - 1.3 cm-1 could be estimated. For 2, three types of magnetic interactions are observed: JA = -56.5(3), JB = -71.6(4), and JC = +4.5(2) cm-1. Considering the observed structural parameters, the magnetic behavior for both of the coordination clusters 1 and 2 has been rationalized.